ABSTRACT

Despite the availability of different treatment modalities, molluscum is often recurrent after the treatment. Autoinoculation in molluscum is a recently studied modality.

The aim of this article is to evaluate and compare the efficacy of autoinoculation and trichloroacetic acid (TCA) for the disappearance of molluscum contagiosum (MC).

This prospective, randomized controlled trial was done in which a total of 128 patients of molluscum were divided into two groups of 64 patients each: Group A treated with autoinoculation and Group B received TCA application. The patients were followed-up till 6 months for efficacy and safety.

At the end of 3 months, a statistically significant (P=0.023) complete clearance of lesions was noted in Group A (80%) when compared with Group B (62%). At the end of 6 months, the recurrence rate was significantly less in the autoinoculation group (3%) than in the TCA group (42%).

We conclude that autoinoculation appears to be a safe, simple, and efficacious procedure with better clearance, minimal expertise, recurrence, and complications when compared with TCA.