We conducted statistical surveys among outpatients with molluscum contagiosum (MC) who had visited our clinic in Amakusa for the first time from January 2003 to December 2007. The patients were observed until December 2012. The subjects consisted of 1110 patients with MC (male-to-female ratio, 1:0.96). Two hundred and twenty-two patients (male-to-female ratio, 1:1.13; age: range, 0–69 years; mode: 3 years) were observed for more than 5 years. In the two hundred and twenty-two patients with MC, the most frequent visit was 7 times per patient and the highest frequency of treatment with excision in each patient was 7 times. This study shows that about half of the patients with MC were treated only once with excision. Many of the patients with MC who had a relapse or reinfection were cured within 3 months after excision for the first time. The sooner patients are treated with excision, the better the outcome than when they wait to heal spontaneously.
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