label: Molluscum Contagiosum
label_lc: molluscum contagiosum
description: A self-limited viral skin infection caused by the molluscum contagiosum virus that belongs to the Poxviridae family and transmitted by direct skin contact. It presents with multiple epidermal nodules that are depressed in the middle. The nodular skin lesions can occur anywhere on the body, but more often they affect the head and neck, trunk, axillae, groin, and flexural areas of the extremities. Morphologically, the lesions are characterized by the presence of crateriform endophytic lobules of acanthotic epidermis. The lobules contain large, eosinophilic intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies that compress the nucleus to the periphery of the cell. The inclusion bodies are called molluscum bodies or Henderson-Paterson bodies.