Nanette Silverberg, MD, serves as the chief of pediatric dermatology for the Mount Sinai Health System in the Kimberly and Eric J. Waldman Department of Dermatology.

Nanette Silverberg, MD

Discussing Treatments, Anticipatory Guidance for Molluscum Contagiosum, with Nanette Silverberg, MD

In another segment of her interview with the 

 team, Nanette Silverberg, MD, spoke about the takeaways from her conference talk ‘What's New in Molluscum Contagiosum? Advances in Understanding and Treating Molluscipoxvirus,’ presented at the 

2025 American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Annual Meeting

Silverberg, who serves as the chief of pediatric dermatology for the Mount Sinai Health System in the Kimberly and Eric J. Waldman Department of Dermatology, was asked in this segment of her AAD interview about identifying molluscum in children.

“We always talk about syphilis being the great imitator in dermatology, but molluscum is a great imitator in kids,” Silverberg explained. “You know, we hope kids don't get syphilis. Obviously, there have been some recent cases of congenital syphilis because of the background rise in the population, but in general, molluscum is the great imitator in childhood. It can look like acne. It can look like eczema because it can be hidden by the eczema and can trigger severe eczema. It can get so large that it looks like a cyst or an abscess. So it really can be hard to diagnose at the beginning.”

Silverberg added that clinicians have to maintain a high level of suspicion, noting that they can do so by magnifying lesions.

“If you see severe eczema, and it's always in the same location on the leg, and parents have such a hard time clearing it, you need to magnify and look for molluscum,” she explained. “It's often there. We have lots of in-office tools to diagnose, such as dermoscopy and Tzanck preparation, so certainly these can help us make the diagnosis in the office.”

Silverberg also spoke to the potential options among patients with molluscum contagiosum and their caregivers as far as therapeutics.

“We have a rich therapeutic armamentarium that's coming out now with topical berdazimer, which was FDA-approved but not yet released,” Silverberg said. “The new in-office cantharidin that we can use [as well]. All of these add to our ability to holistically treat molluscum, and they came at just the right time because we have so many cases. It's gotten more extensive over time, and it's wonderful to be able to offer patients therapeutic options.”

To learn more about these takeaways from Silverberg’s presentation on molluscum, view her full interview posted above. For more coverage of interviews with presenters and trial investigators at AAD, view our 

The quotes contained in the interview summary above were edited for clarity.

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In this segment of Silverberg’s interview, she highlights providing anticipatory guidance for parents of children with molluscum as well as treatment options.

Improving Understanding of Molluscum Contagiosum Treatment, with Nanette Silverberg, MD

 in Orlando, Flordia, Nanette Silverberg, MD, spoke with the 

 editorial team about the biggest takeaways from her conference talk ‘What's New in Molluscum Contagiosum? Advances in Understanding and Treating Molluscipoxvirus.’

Silverberg—known for her work as the chief of pediatric dermatology for the Mount Sinai Health System in the Kimberly and Eric J. Waldman Department of Dermatology—was asked about her portion of the talk. She responded with some background on 

 and her rationale for pursuing the topic in this talk.

“The incredible rise that we've seen in molluscum since the 1990s is really a function of the rise in atopic dermatitis and atopy in the background population, which allows for kids to have a weakened skin barrier, to acquire molluscum, to have more molluscum, [and to be] more contagious,” Silverberg said. “And concurrently with that, we've also adopted a plan in the US to promote swimming and learning to swim at a fairly young age, and that also increases exposures.”

Silverberg was also asked about her talk itself and some highlights of what she covered in her session at AAD regarding molluscum and its diagnosis and management.

“I'm going back and exploring things like why people have molluscum,” Silverberg explained. “I always said molluscum was the scourge of Brooklyn when I was training as a resident, and then it was the scourge of Chicago when I was a fellow, and then I was back to Manhattan and it was the scourge of Manhattan. The fact is that it's everywhere in the US, and children of all races and ethnicities are experiencing molluscum. It can be a marker of certain types of disparity, and particularly worldwide, as there have been outbreaks in indigenous populations that don't have running water, live in poverty, and live in close quarters…But, you know, it is ubiquitous virus.”

Silverberg continued her discussion of the takeaways from her presentation, highlighting ways that different age groups contract the condition.

“There's really no age group that's immune and you can get it from the cradle to the grave,” Silverberg said. “Quite literally, you can be born with molluscum. This year, we did a systematic review with some of our our students, looking at common shared risk factors for molluscum and warts. Skin-to-skin contact is always number 1. But sharing fomites, shoes, clothing, towels, bath sponges, razors, brushes, combs, bar soap, and things like that can transfer. Close contact activities like wrestling or massages…We've talked about public swimming pools. You have to be in it to win it.”

Silverberg noted that individuals who are too poor to participate in swimming sports may not have access and will, consequently, not face this type of transference. That being said, she added that it is a mechanism for many kids.

“The main thing that we're seeing now as an increase is the history of cutaneous illnesses that impair the skin barrier,” Silverberg said. “Filaggrin defects, which are a weakness in the skin barrier that's genetic, have been associated with very severe atopic dermatitis. Atopic dermatitis and lots of lots of immunodeficiencies have been described [as situations in which] kids catch and have molluscum that spreads. Tropical climates can do it. Of course, we've seen other situations where kids, let's say, who have organ transplantations or bone marrow transplantations are renal suppressed and can catch it, so we have a lot of common risk factors for warts and molluscum. Part of why we looked at that is to think about commonly addressing these risk factors together.”

For additional information on these takeaways, view the full video interview with Silverberg posted above.

The quotes in this interview summary were edited for clarity.

Silverberg has previously reported grants from Incyte and speaking/advisory fees from Regeneron, Sanofi, Verrica, and Novan.

In this interview at AAD 2025, Silverberg discusses important facts for dermatologists to know in the management of molluscum contagiosum.

Nanette Silverberg, MD

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