Water Warts
Molluscum contagiosum (Latin name)By Bjarne Lühr Hansen PhD, MD and Philipp Skafte-Holm MD, Mentor Institute
Water warts is a frequent viral infection in the child’s skin. The illness is contagious. Water warts are little white spots. They appear on the child’s chest, back, arms or legs. The illness is benign and disappears by itself, but it can take several years. If the child has many water warts or they are a bother the doctor can scrape or freeze them away.
Water warts is a skin disease often seen with children. The illness is caused by a virus that infects from child to child. 1 week to 6 months after the child has been infected the water warts are formed. A child with water warts does not just infect other children, but can also infect itself. If the child picks at a water wart and touches itself another place on the body afterwards this will possibly cause new water warts. It is therefore normal to see more water warts next to each other.
Water warts are a benign ailment. Most water warts disappear by themselves in the course of one to two years, but sometimes it can last up to four years before a water wart will disappear. The child only rarely notices the water warts, although they can be a little itchy. Sometimes the water warts will become red and sore because the child’s clothes constantly moves over them.
The water warts appear as little (1-5 millimetres) white spots. In some cases the spot can be as big as 15 millimetres. The centre of the bud is often turned inwards. The water wart contains a tough paste that looks like a pearl-sago. Thus water warts are different in appearance than the warts the child can get on hands or feet. The spots typically appear on the chest, arms and legs.