A question people don’t like to ask

Hardly anyone talks about shaving and molluscum. Yet the topic comes up in many reputable sources, usually in one short sentence on the side. That sentence is easy to skim past.

This article is not a guide. I pass on what I read and link to the sources so that you can read them yourself. What applies to you is best clarified with a doctor.

For me it went like this: at the beginning, when I still thought the bumps were pimples, I shaved as usual. After the diagnosis I stopped.

What I read about shaving and spread

The Mayo Clinic writes that shaving over affected areas can also spread the virus. It therefore advises people with bumps in areas they shave not to shave over the bumps.

The US health agency CDC says something similar. Its prevention advice says not to shave affected areas or have hair removal procedures there.

I am only passing this on. This is the advice of those organisations, not a recommendation from me.

It surprised me how matter-of-factly this point appears in the sources. When you shave, you think about many things, but hardly about a virus. With molluscum, much of what used to be routine became a question for me.

How shaving could spread the virus: the observation from France

For a long time I didn’t understand why shaving of all things should play a part. While reading, I came across two ideas.

First, the blade can carry the virus from one area of skin to the next. This is part of so-called self-infection, which I also write about in the article Molluscum and scratching.

Second, shaving causes tiny injuries to the skin. In a short paper from France, the authors suspect that such small injuries could make infection and spread easier.

This paper was published in 2013 in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections. In it, dermatologists from Nice described 30 people with molluscum who came to their practice. Almost all of them had removed their pubic hair, most of them by shaving.

What I found important was the limitation: it is an observation in a small number of people, not a controlled study. The authors themselves write that their suspicion needs to be confirmed in further studies. So it is not proof. For me, it was still an explanation of why the topic comes up in guidelines.

There is also something I read on DermNet about the incubation period: there are often about two weeks between infection and a visible bump, but it can be up to six months. So in everyday life it is hardly possible to tell whether a new spot has anything to do with shaving.

What sexual health guidelines say

The topic is especially clear in texts on sexual health. In a leaflet from a Scottish sexual health network I read that it advises not shaving or waxing the affected area.

A British sexual health guideline also describes advising patients not to shave or wax the genital area, so that the spots don’t spread further. I write more about the genital area in the article Molluscum in the genital area.

It helped me to look at the subject soberly. Molluscum is caused by a virus. The sources describe shaving as one possible way existing spots can spread on your own body, not as the cause.

What I didn’t find

On many questions around shaving, I didn’t find any reliable answers. For example, whether a particular razor, a hair removal cream or laser makes a difference. I also didn’t read anything clear in reputable sources about when you can shave as usual again after the spots have healed.

What I found in forums on this was often contradictory and without sources. That is why I don’t pass it on here. If one of these questions affects you, a dermatologist is the right place to ask.

What I take away from it

Shaving is a small topic that is easy to overlook. For me, it is an example of how many everyday things suddenly become a question with molluscum. In summary, these are the main points I read in the linked sources:

  • The Mayo Clinic and other organisations advise against shaving over affected areas.
  • Sexual health guidelines advise against shaving and waxing when there is molluscum in the genital area.
  • A small observation from France suspects a link with pubic hair removal, but it has not been proven.
  • I didn’t find any reliable information on razors, creams or lasers.

Everything else belongs in a conversation with a doctor.

After two years it was over for me. Was it coincidence? I don’t know. How it came about, I tell in my story.