Treatment of molluscum contagiosum with topical diphencyprone therapy.

Sir, Molluscum contagiosum is a common benign disease of children induced by the molluscum contagiosum virus. Generally, in healthy individuals it heals spontaneously without scars within a few months, and treatment is not absolutely necessary (1–4). However, the disease may spread extensively if it occurs in immunocompromsed patients or those with atopic dermatitis (5–7). Furthermore, continuous scratching of the lesions in chronic pruritus may lead to inflammation and secondary bacterial infection. Generally, physical removal by surgical curettage with a curette or small pincer or cryotherapy is used for the treatment of molluscum contagiosum (4–7). However, pain felt during treatment is a major problem because most patients are less than 10 years old. Thus, there have been many attempts to minimize pain by applying topical anaesthetics or administering pharmaceutical agents (8–11). Although immunotherapy using diphencyprone in the treatment of alopecia areata, verruca vulgaris and verruca plana has been reported in literature, there have not been any reports of its use to treat molluscum contagiosum.