Small Bumps, Big Feelings: A Family's Molluscum Story!

In this heartfelt and candid episode of Skincredible, we meet six-year-old Ryder and his dad, Chris, as they share their family’s real-life journey with molluscum—one that many parents quietly navigate but rarely talk about aloud. 

What began as just a few itchy bumps on Ryder quickly turned into more and more bumps. As the spots spread, so do the challenges: discomfort, uncertainty, and the social impact of visible skin changes. Ryder opens up about feeling embarrassed at school and unsure of what to say when classmates noticed his bumps in preschool—an experience many kids can relate to but struggle to express.

Chris shares the family’s perspective from the early days of confusion (“What are these bumps?”) through the emotional and practical considerations of whether to treat or wait it out. Like many parents, they initially chose a watch-and-wait approach, only to reconsider as the molluscum multiplied, became more bothersome, and began affecting Ryder’s confidence and daily life.

The episode walks through their treatment journey—from limited success with early therapy to the introduction of a newer option, a nitric oxide–releasing gel (Zelsuvmi). Chris describes the turning point: visible improvement within days, a simple at-home routine, and manageable side effects like mild stinging and redness. Along the way, the family developed their own coping strategies—like Ryder’s “run a lap” trick to handle brief discomfort after application.

Beyond the clinical side, this episode highlights the emotional weight molluscum can carry for both kids and parents. From avoiding certain social situations to navigating concerns about contagion and visibility, Chris shares how it impacted their family’s routines—and how meaningful it was to return to normal once Ryder’s skin cleared.

The story ends on a joyful note: Ryder’s bumps are gone, his confidence is back, and the milestone is celebrated the way any six-year-old would want—with cupcakes, cookies, and a well-earned sense of victory.

Listeners will walk away with:

• A relatable, real-world look at how molluscum can evolve over time
• Insight into the decision-making process between waiting vs. treating
• Practical tips for applying topical treatments and managing side effects
• Guidance on supporting kids emotionally through visible skin conditions
• Encouragement to seek help and explore options that fit your family’s needs

Links

Dr. Swanson's Favorite Things

Keywords

Dermatology, molluscum, zelsuvmi, imiquimod, skin conditions, kids, pediatric dermatology, parenting kids with skin conditions, contagious bumps, molluscum contagiosum 

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction & Welcome

02:00 - When Ryder first noticed molluscum bumps

03:00 - Social impact of molluscum for Ryder

04:00 - Parents start to consider whether or not to treat

05:00 - No one is bragging about molluscum

06:25 - When the family decided to treat

07:35 - Treating with Imiquimod

08:40 - Experience with Zelsuvmi

11:40 - Tips for other families, redness, stinging

14:22 - Managing the side effects: stinging and redness tips

13:20 - Celebrating molluscum treatment success

15:50 - Going back to school after treatment

19:40 - Advice for other kids

20:30 - Deciding to treat after watching molluscum 

22:00 - Molluscum in pools, swimming

23:39 - Ryder changes due to molluscum 

24:42 - Chris’ advice for other parents 

25:00 - Thank you and Goodbye   

The information shared on this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for personalized medical advice. Always consult your  physician regarding your health.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to Skin Credible, where we tell you what you should know about your skin and how to blow. Because your skin's incredible.

SPEAKER_04 0:17

Welcome everybody to another amazing episode of the Skin Credible Podcast. You guys are in for a real treat today because I have some special, very special guests. I have my patient Ryder. Ryder, you want to say hi to everybody?

SPEAKER_06 0:33

Hey everybody. This is me, Ryder, and I'm six years old. I love it. Perfect. And we have Ryder's dad.

SPEAKER_04 0:40

Dad, you want to tell everybody who you are?

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Yeah, hi there. My name's Chris. I'm Ryder's father.

SPEAKER_04 0:45

I love it. Well, we are here. We are being brought together today to discuss molluscum. Are we excited? Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 0:56

Because all the stuff on my legs are basically gone because uh and there's no red spots. I love that. Uh basically my mom took them out.

SPEAKER_05 1:09

Sure.

SPEAKER_06 1:10

Yeah. Sure. They took heat. Yeah. That's good. Well, she did take one out, and and I basically had to have a cast on my leg because it was bleeding like brown wood.

SPEAKER_04 1:22

Oh man. That's kind of scary, huh?

SPEAKER_06 1:25

I know, but I did have to have a cast.

SPEAKER_04 1:27

Yeah. Well, it's a good thing you're tough.

SPEAKER_06 1:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:30

Yeah. Have you seen that episode of Bluey? Where dad keeps telling her, It's a good thing you're tough. Right?

SPEAKER_03 1:39

Have we seen that one? So I think I think you remember that.

SPEAKER_04 1:43

It's a good one. Um, well, I'm so excited to have you guys on the pod today. Molluscum is something that a lot of families deal with, and it can be a little bit scary, but a lot annoying. And I think it's so good to kind of share personal experiences of dealing with the molluscum, treatment of the molluscum, kind of the whole shebang. And so I wanted to start by talking to you, Ryder. Do you remember when you came in to see me and you had a couple bumps on your legs? Do you remember that?

SPEAKER_06 2:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:17

Yeah. What did you think about it when you noticed those bumps? What did you think? Did they bother you? Yeah, they itched a lot.

SPEAKER_06 2:26

When I itched them, it kind of bleeded.

SPEAKER_04 2:29

Yes, gotcha. And at first, when I saw you, there were just like a couple of them, and they, you know, it was kind of no big deal. But then they multiplied and they had molluscum babies. Do you remember that?

SPEAKER_06 2:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:42

Yeah. And what did you think as you started to get more molluscum?

SPEAKER_06 2:48

Bad news.

SPEAKER_04 2:49

Bad. Bad news bears. And did they get more itchy as you got more of them? Uh yeah. Yeah. Did you feel self-conscious about your molluscum? Like, did kids at school notice the bumps? Yeah. Yeah. And what did you tell them? Like when they were like, Ryder, what what are those bumps on your legs? What did you tell them?

SPEAKER_06 3:16

Uh nothing because I was scared to.

SPEAKER_04 3:18

Nothing because you were scared to.

SPEAKER_06 3:20

Basically, I was kind of embarrassed because uh my friend James in preschool, he he'll he was like just looking at them.

SPEAKER_04 3:32

Yeah, yeah. And it makes you kind of feel a little bit embarrassed and a little bit nervous about it, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. And so when you noticed the bumps, did you tell your your mom and dad? Yeah. Yeah. And so, Dad, do you remember the first time Ryder said, Hey Dad, I've got bumps on my legs?

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Yeah, I sure do remember. It was uh we're like, what the heck are those? What what's going on now?

SPEAKER_04 3:59

Yeah, yeah. And then you guys came in and told you they were molestum, and we talked about some treatment options. And even at the beginning, we opted not to treat because you know, there were just a couple at first, and they weren't bothering him terribly at that point in time.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Yeah, I think as they continued to spread and just became more visible, and Ryder became more um sort of aggravated um and and bothered by the you know, we were in public spaces at the playground at school, and they were just so visible, and then we felt like, gosh, we need to do something.

SPEAKER_04 4:35

And at first, when you guys came in to talk about them, I told you what they were, molluscum. Had you ever heard of molluscum before then?

SPEAKER_01 4:44

No, that was all all new to us, a new uh yet another thing on the list that's uh you know now happening to us for the first time.

SPEAKER_04 4:51

Yeah. And I hear that a lot. So in my line of work, I see molluscum every single day, all day. They're so common. Pretty much all kids deal with them. But then when I tell families that that's what they are, a lot of families haven't even heard of them. And they ask me, like, well, how is this thing so common? And I've never heard of it. And I like to say, well, it's because nobody's like bragging about it. Nobody's like at the playground, like, hey, guess what little Johnny has? These horribly contagious bumps that are spreading rapidly all over his body. You know, let's let's plan a play date for your child and my child. And so when I first told you guys about Molluscum, what were your initial thoughts? Were you scared? Were you um nervous? Were you uh just confused? What were your first thoughts when you're like, these are molluscum?

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Yeah, I think all of the above, just not knowing what to expect, you know, what's the treatment gonna look like? Um how are others gonna react as they continue to see this, you know, thing that's becoming more and more visible by the day on the on the playground wearing shorts. So yeah, whole whirlwind of emotions.

SPEAKER_04 6:01

Well, and at first he only had a couple. So at our initial visit, we actually decided let's not treat, you know, let's just let them resolve naturally, which they eventually will do. And so we took kind of a backseat approach to it all. But then they had a lot of molluscum babies and he started to get more. And that kind of shifted the scales uh in our conversation. What was the biggest factor that made you think, you know, maybe I do want to treat this and make this go away faster than maybe Mother Nature would have it go away?

SPEAKER_01 6:31

Yeah, understanding that it was an option just to let it run its course, we we were just thinking, how long do we want to tolerate this? It's just it's he was uncomfortable. We were, you know, uncomfortable with the just in the social setting. So we we did not want to wait and we wanted to find something that we could do about it.

SPEAKER_04 6:48

Yeah, yeah. And so, Ryder, when you guys came in and we started talking about ways that we could treat your molluscum and make them go away, did you want to do something to make them go away faster?

SPEAKER_06 7:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:03

Yes, you did. What did you dislike about your molluscum the most?

SPEAKER_06 7:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:12

Just bumps all over.

SPEAKER_06 7:13

Yeah, and even there's one on my arm.

SPEAKER_04 7:16

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:18

Yeah, like right here.

SPEAKER_04 7:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:20

And I can see the like spots in that.

SPEAKER_04 7:24

Sure. Yeah, sometimes they leave behind just like a little bit of a spot where they used to be.

SPEAKER_06 7:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:30

Yeah. Yeah. So we initially started some treatment. We initially used a cream called Amicomod, which is convenient because it's just two to three spots Monday, Wednesday, Friday at bedtime. What was your experience like using that? It's typically pretty easy, but it doesn't always work. What was your viewpoint?

SPEAKER_01 7:49

I think we had limited success out of that. We didn't notice a significant difference and just having to, you know, treat a few of them at a time felt a little bit cumbersome and a little bit of a memory game when we'd get to the next night.

SPEAKER_04 8:01

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I totally get that. And then as we were trying that, excitingly, a new medicine came out. And we had talked about it. I had told you, oh my gosh, there's something new coming from Alusgum that we can't hardly wait for. And while we were trying the Amikomod, it it came to market. It's called Zell Suv Me. And it's a topical medicine that's applied every night to each of the spots. And so we were able to get that started for Ryder and start treating him with the Zell Suv Me. What was that experience like?

SPEAKER_01 8:34

That was finally what we needed. It was um we had great results with Zell Suvme. Um, there was a very small and easy learning curve just of learning how to apply the or how to mix and then apply the compound, but we just we got results quickly, I think within within days, which was a huge relief.

SPEAKER_04 8:53

That's a huge relief. And to the audience, so when you get a prescription for Zelsuvni, it comes in a box, and each box has two tubes, the active ingredient and then the activator that turns it on, because Zelsuvni is a nitric oxide-releasing gel. And so nitric oxide is a gas, so it goes poof, and you can't bottle a gas or put a gas in a tube. So it has this active and activator, you mix, and that kind of activates the nitric oxide. And then you apply it. Any tips and tricks for families that might be listening out there about the protocol? Did they make it as easy as possible?

SPEAKER_01 9:35

It really was easy. Yeah, with that card on it, it just shows you precisely how much of each of the two to put on there, and then you just mix it right there and you apply straight away. So we just, you know, every each night we would just wipe down that card and use it again the next day. So it was very easy.

SPEAKER_04 9:48

And I've heard a tip from some parents. Like they tell you to mix the two ingredients on the card and then apply with your fingertip to the spots. And some parents have told me they actually find it works better if you take a Q-tip and like dab it in the medicine and then dab on the spots. How did you guys use it at home?

SPEAKER_01 10:05

I think initially we tried using our finger, which worked fine, but I think just because of how small some of them are, we wanted to be more precise. And I think a Q-tip was the way that we could we could do that a little bit more intentionally.

SPEAKER_04 10:17

That's been my experience too. Like your fingertip, it's just hard to be precisely on the spot. And so you get a little bit of irritation around the spot with that. Ryder, when your dad was using the Zell Suv me on you, how did it feel?

SPEAKER_06 10:32

Uh stinging.

SPEAKER_04 10:34

It stung a little bit, and this is a good point. Some kids do have a little bit of burning and stinging.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

We had we had a little ritual that we would do. Do you remember what we would do when you when you said, hey, it stings just a little bit? Do you remember what we would do? Remember we would have you run it. Do you remember that?

SPEAKER_06 10:51

Yeah. What would you do? Uh I was running back and forth.

SPEAKER_04 10:57

So your dad would put the medicine on and then you'd like run around until the stingy went away? Yeah. Well, that's a good tip. That's a good tip to other kids. So if they experience a little stingy burning, just take a little lap around the living room, and by the time you get back, it'll be better.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

That's right. Yeah. That became our our pattern, right? Each time, you just run run a couple laps and you're like, I'm good. Good to go.

SPEAKER_04 11:21

Dad, did you hear Ryder complain a lot about the Zell Sue me as you guys were in the midst of treatment? Or did he seem like he tolerated it pretty well?

SPEAKER_01 11:29

I think he tolerated it just fine. I think there were just moments where he, you know, right after application where he would say it stings a little bit, and then we would have him run run that lap or two through the uh the house, and then he was he was good to go. So I it was very minimal.

SPEAKER_04 11:41

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, good, good, good. And then any tips that you would have for other families that are thinking about using the Zell Sue Me? Um, I warn parents and families that sometimes it'll make them a little bit red, and it's due to blood vessel dilation. Um the uh nitric oxide is a known blood vessel dilator, and so sometimes it'll dilate the blood vessels. Did you guys have any experiences like that?

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Um we did notice some redness, but I remember you had told us to expect that, so I think we just didn't think anything more of it. And again, with the quick results that we got, I think then the whole scheme of things that was very minimal.

SPEAKER_04 12:17

And you had mentioned that you started noticing some improvement within days. Is that right?

SPEAKER_01 12:23

I think it was days, yeah. If memory serves, I think maybe just a matter of two or three days, and we're starting to see them already diminish.

SPEAKER_04 12:29

Yeah. Oh, good, good, good. And then I think I saw you guys in follow-up just a few weeks after starting using it, and already the molluscum were basically all gone, which is great. The endpoints in the trials were at 12 weeks, but I think we followed up at like eight weeks, and already there was such significant improvement. And Ryder, do you remember when I saw you in clinic and you guys had been using the Zell Suv Me and all of your molluscum were all gone? And I said, Ryder, how do you feel? Do you remember what you said? Good. Good, really good. But you said something else that was kind of special. You said, I feel like I want to celebrate. Do you remember that? Yeah. Because it's a celebration to have the molasses all gone, isn't it?

SPEAKER_06 13:19

Yeah. Did you we only had like cupcakes and cookies?

SPEAKER_04 13:24

Cupcakes and cookies? That sounds like an amazing celebration. What do you like? Let's let's get to the details here, Ryder. What kind of cupcakes do you like? Do you like vanilla with with white frosting? Do you like chocolate with chocolate frosting? But which one? What's your favorite?

SPEAKER_05 13:42

If you could have your dream cupcake. Which one?

SPEAKER_06 13:49

The color of the light.

SPEAKER_04 13:51

The color of the lights? But you know, there's kind of white and there's also kind of black in the lights.

SPEAKER_03 13:57

Are you thinking the chocolate ones or the vanilla ones?

SPEAKER_06 14:00

I mean like uh both. Like in the chocolate. The chocolate kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_04 14:09

Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Do you like some sprinkles on there too?

SPEAKER_06 14:15

Yeah, I love like once I actually got one that was like this tall.

SPEAKER_04 14:22

Whoa. And then what about cookies? What's your favorite cookie?

SPEAKER_06 14:28

A pumpkin pie one.

SPEAKER_04 14:30

Ooh, a pumpkin pie cookie.

SPEAKER_06 14:31

Which was this tall?

SPEAKER_04 14:33

Oh my gosh. That's huge. Did you eat that all at once?

SPEAKER_06 14:38

Yeah, I ate it in like 10 seconds.

SPEAKER_04 14:40

You ate it in ten seconds?

SPEAKER_06 14:42

Yeah, I like this.

SPEAKER_04 14:43

What do you think about Sugar Rider? Do you like sugar?

SPEAKER_06 14:47

Yeah, I just want to like.

SPEAKER_04 14:53

And there we have our clip for social media.

SPEAKER_03 14:55

That's right. What what do we not like about sugar? What does it leave in our teeth?

SPEAKER_05 15:01

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_06 15:05

Sugar. I mean the Ellie sugar sugar.

SPEAKER_05 15:13

Sugar bugs. Are you a good toothbrusher?

SPEAKER_06 15:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:18

Yes, I bet you are.

SPEAKER_06 15:20

But my brother basically never brushes his teeth.

SPEAKER_04 15:26

You're dishing the tea. You're exposing your brother. I forget, Ryder. Is your brother older or younger than you?

SPEAKER_06 15:36

Older.

SPEAKER_04 15:37

He's older. Yeah. So after your molluscum were all gone, you celebrated with some cupcakes and cookies. Yeah. Yes. And how did it feel to go back to school and not have any molluscum bumps on you? Did that feel pretty good?

SPEAKER_06 15:56

Yeah, it did feel pretty good.

SPEAKER_04 15:58

Right, or what would you tell other kids that are thinking about using medicine for their molluscum? Do you have any words of wisdom for them?

SPEAKER_06 16:06

Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:08

What would you say?

SPEAKER_06 16:10

Uh please stop talking about me.

SPEAKER_04 16:16

Are you talking to James with that? Uh yes. Yes, yes. I understand. But what if there are other kids out there who are six years old and they have molluscum and they don't know what to do about it? What would you tell 'em?

SPEAKER_06 16:33

Go to like a nurse or something.

SPEAKER_04 16:35

Go to like a nurse or something? If they have it at school. If they have it at school. Sure, that's a good point. Go to your school nurse and ask about it. Yeah. What do you think about the dermatologist? Do you like dermatologists? Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_02 16:49

Who's who's your dermatologist? She right there.

SPEAKER_04 16:53

Uh doctor once and yes, that's me. I think dermatologists are pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03 17:01

Yeah, me too. Did you say thank you for fixing my bumps?

SPEAKER_04 17:05

Yeah. So, Ryder, how does it feel to be on a podcast? Good. Were you excited to come to the studio? Yes. Yes. Are you gonna tell all your friends that they can listen to you on the podcast? Yeah. Including James.

SPEAKER_03 17:23

Yeah, for sure. Definitely James.

SPEAKER_05 17:26

Uh not really.

SPEAKER_04 17:30

Well, he'll find out. He'll find out. And he'll be like, oh wow, my buddy Ryder was on a podcast. He's a big superstar. Ryder, what grade are you in?

SPEAKER_06 17:40

Uh I'm in zero grade.

SPEAKER_04 17:43

Zero grade kindergarten?

SPEAKER_06 17:45

Kinder.

SPEAKER_04 17:46

You know what they call it on Bluey? They call it Kindy.

SPEAKER_06 17:50

Kin like can candy?

SPEAKER_04 17:53

Yeah, like candy, but kindy.

SPEAKER_06 17:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:56

I think that's kind of cute. You know, Bluey is six years old too. You're the same age as Bluey. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have a favorite episode of Bluey?

SPEAKER_06 18:08

Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:09

Which one?

SPEAKER_06 18:10

Do you like this guy's like and he's crying?

SPEAKER_04 18:16

That could be any number of Bowie episodes. But you know what? It made me think of Unicorse. Was it one of the Unicorse episodes?

unknown 18:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:23

Yeah. Those are funny. Those are really funny. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 18:26

Because do you know where the Louie where he like grunts on his bike and and bingo is like trying to like get water went from the water fountain? Yeah, yes. I yeah. That guy's like crying like that orange, like that big of a guy. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:46

I think that guy's like, I think you're talking about the episode called Bike, where Bluey has trouble riding her bike and she kind of gives up for a little bit, and Bingo's having trouble getting the water from the water fountain, and Muffin's having trouble getting the backpack back on, and there's another doggy that can't reach the monkey bars, but then they keep trying and they figure it out.

SPEAKER_06 19:08

I know, but then uh the guy actually like climbs out the big pool and then he actually just gets the like one bar and then he falls down.

SPEAKER_04 19:18

Oh man. I wonder which episode that's in. I'm gonna have to re-watch all of them to find out.

SPEAKER_06 19:24

Yeah, he actually just does Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:28

Now, Ryder, if you see another kid in your class and you notice that they have molluscum, what do you say to them? Do you say anything to them about it? Uh yes. Yes? What do you say? Do you say I used to have those too?

SPEAKER_06 19:45

I used to have those too.

SPEAKER_04 19:46

And do you tell them that there's medicine that can make them go away?

unknown 19:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:51

Yeah. And overall, did you feel like the Zell Suvmi worked really well for you? Yes. Yes. And you were so happy when they were all gone. Yeah. And you know one of the best parts is you only get molluscum once. They're never gonna come back.

SPEAKER_06 20:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:06

Isn't that pretty cool?

unknown 20:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:08

You're all done.

SPEAKER_04 20:09

You're all done. You did it.

SPEAKER_06 20:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:12

Isn't that neat?

unknown 20:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:14

Now I'm gonna ask your dad a few questions, but I wanted to know if you had anything else that you wanted to say about molluscum. No thanks. No thanks. Okay, cool. Cool. Um, Dad, overall, when you guys were trying to decide if treatment was the right thing for you. You know, I see a lot of patients where they've heard that you don't have to treat molluscum, which is absolutely true. They will eventually go away on their own. But a lot of people want to treat to try to speed up that process. What was the decision maker for you? Was it like concern for them being contagious? Was it the annoyance factor? Was it the itchiness? Was it the cootie factor? What was it for you that was like, we should do something?

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Yeah, I think it was really all of those things. It was, you know, of course, as a parent, you don't want to send your child sick to school and then expose other kids to, you know, something that could be harmful to them. So there's certainly that was weighing on our conscience. And um Yeah, he was in discomfort. Um, we didn't know a lot about it, you know, how contagious it is. Should we be covering it with pants, even though it's a hundred degrees outside, and have him be uncomfortable or just wear shorts and own it? So it was um there were a lot of reasons for us that we didn't want to wait and just continue in that that uncomfortable state. So we opted to do something about it and to treat.

SPEAKER_04 21:34

Yeah, yeah. And there are some families that will actually hold their kids back from certain activities out of concern for molluscum spread or even concern for negative attention if other people happen to notice them. I tell families they don't have to take those precautions, but some people just feel they feel self conscious about the issue. How did you guys experience that as a family? Was there anything that you kind of steered him away from, at least temporarily, or did you just Let him be, let him be the rider that he is.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Uh as much as we'd love to just, you know, let our let our child continue to live their life in the same way we did feel impacted. We felt, you know, embarrassed, self-conscious, you know, concerned for others around him. So I don't know that there were any major activities we, you know, we didn't skip a season of soccer or anything like that, but I do remember just with him playing on the playground, if he's wearing his shorts, we'd kind of say, Hey, get come over here. Let's maybe take a little break and try to steer his his interest and his attention somewhere else, just because it's so visible when he was climbing up on something and it's, you know, another face is at that at the the same height as his legs. It was just so apparent. So we we did feel embarrassed by it and concern and just wanted to, yeah, at times we would separate him from the pack.

SPEAKER_04 22:46

Yeah, yeah. And is Ryder a big swimmer?

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Ryder is a big swimmer.

SPEAKER_04 22:51

And swimming is a common place to get molestum. For some reason, the virus just spreads like crazy in water. The chlorine doesn't kill it, it makes it stronger. I joke that it turns it into the Hulk. You know how the Hulk is like a mild-mannered person, and then all of a sudden, when they get angry, it becomes the Hulk. Um, that's what chlorine does to the molluscum virus. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

That could be the case for us.

SPEAKER_04 23:12

Did you guys take a break from swimming? I yeah, again, I tell families they don't have to take a break from swimming, but did you guys take a break from swimming?

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Um, I am trying to remember if that corresponded with swimming season or not. It was I definitely remember it being a hot out, so it likely did. Yeah, we're there were time we we have a small, you know, uh pool in our house that the the kiddos utilized, but we didn't go to any public swimming pools during that time, and I think that was the reason why.

SPEAKER_04 23:38

Yeah. Did you guys notice any changes in Ryder when he was dealing with his molluscum? Did he seem to be, did you notice things where like he seemed to be more self-conscious or he seemed to be kind of holding himself back? It he rider rarely holds himself back.

SPEAKER_01 23:53

That is true.

SPEAKER_04 23:54

But did you guys notice anything because of the molluscum? Did he kind of turtle shell up a little bit at all?

SPEAKER_01 24:00

A little bit, you know, as you alluded to, he's certainly not a not a shy child, but he would tell us stories, you know, from school, like you shared, that a classmate noticed it and was like, hey, what is what is that? What's on your legs? Right. So there were um, yeah, I think that times like that made him feel a little bit different or a little bit isolated.

SPEAKER_04 24:17

Yeah. Once they were gone, did you notice a positive change? Was it like Ryder was back, full force, full steam ahead?

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Yeah, yeah. He was right back to his old self and we uh, you know, we celebrated it. We're like, weren't you aren't you so happy that we don't have to deal with this anymore? You don't have to have your medicine, you don't have to be uncomfortable. So yeah, it was it was definitely a breath of fresh air, I think, for the whole family, not just Ryder.

SPEAKER_04 24:42

Yeah, I love that. And Dad, would you have any words of wisdom to parents listening out there? They just discovered three bumps on their six-year-old. What would you say to them?

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Uh, you know, of course, parenting is uh um looks different to each person. I'd I certainly wouldn't um, you know, push uh the way that we handle it on anyone else, but I would certainly offer that um it was doing something about it for us was the right decision. It allowed us to more quickly get back to our normal routine and uh the treatment was quick and painless.

SPEAKER_04 25:13

Yeah, I love that. I love that. On that note, Ryder, this has been so much fun. Ryder and Chris, thank you so much for doing this today, you guys. I know your lives are busy, but I thought it'd be so meaningful to help share the story of a molluscum journey, successful treatment. Molluscum are a part of growing up, but it doesn't mean you just have to suffer with them until they're ready to go away. We can intervene in a comfortable, tolerable way and make them go away sooner. I appreciate you guys so much for coming on the pod. Do either of you have anything else you'd like to say to the listeners? Ryder? Anything else you want to say?

unknown 25:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:52

What do you want to say?

SPEAKER_06 25:53

Actually, no.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Do you want to say thank you so much, Dr. Swanson, for having us on the podcast?

SPEAKER_06 25:58

Thanks so much.

SPEAKER_04 26:00

Oh, you're so welcome. You're so welcome, Ryder. What was your favorite part of this experience? Was it the big microphone?

SPEAKER_06 26:07

It it kind of was.

SPEAKER_04 26:09

Yeah, that's a fun part. Yeah, yeah. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Well, thanks for having us. Really appreciate the opportunity. Happy to share Ryder's success story.

SPEAKER_04 26:18

I love it. Thanks again, everybody, and thank you to you guys listening and watching. Please tune in to the next episode of Skin Credible. Bye.