Molluscum%20contagiosum Diagnosis

• Usually asymptomatic, smooth, flesh-colored, firm round papules w/ central umbilication where cheesy materials can be expressed
• Large lesions may present as polypoid growths w/ a stalk-like base
• Lesion size is usually 2-6 mm in diameter
• Lesions may be grouped together in a small area (often in linear arrangement-pseudo-Kobner) or may become more widely spread
  • 10% of patients develop eczematous dermatitis which resolves as the infection clears

• May be pruritic & inflammed in the presence of pyogenic infection or in immune-suppressed state
• Papules may occur anywhere in the body w/ predilection to the face, neck, axilla, cubital creases, thighs & genitoanal region but the palms & soles spared
• Conjunctivitis & corneal lesions may be part of the complications

Laboratory Findings

• Fluorescent antibody technique identifies MCV antigen

• May be used if clinical presentation is not diagnostic
• Central core of lesion can be expressed, smeared & stained on a slide to demonstrate brick-like inclusion bodies
• Skin punch biopsy findings of eosinophilic viral inclusion bodies (molluscum bodies/Henderson-Paterson bodies) on the stratum corneum