Molluscum

(viol - us’ ’- kum) [L., mollusca, shell-fish, from moll is, soft]. A term applied to several diseases of the skin. M. contagiosum, a disease of the skin characterized by the formation of pinhead-sized to pea-sized, rounded, se ile, or pedunculated pearl -like elevations of a yellowish-white or pinkish color. The lesions may be single or multiple, are usually situated upon the face, and are due to a hyperplasia of the rete mucosum, the growth probably beginning in the hair follicles. The lesions on microscopic examination are found to contain peculiar ovoidal, sharply - defined bodies — Molluscum bodies — which are by some considered as forms of epithelial degeneration, by others as protozoan parasites. M. fibrosum, a disease of the skin characterized by the formation of multiple fibromata, which may be se ile or pedunculated, and grow from the deeper layers of the corium and the subcutaneous ti ue. 399