Dr. Pimple Popper - General Discussion

[auntjess]

On 1/25/2019 at 2:02 AM, threebluestars said:

I suspect the patient's diagnosis has already been made before they film, and a lot of it is reenactment for the camera. 

Yes, and I'm sure she's called the ones worrying about cancer, and told them as soon as she knows.

[PityFree]

On 1/25/2019 at 1:22 PM, Rickster said:

I’m no expert on suturing, but I thought Dr. Lee could have done a better job stitching up the guy with the lipoma on his back. There didn't seem to be that many stitches and the incision didn’t seem to be that tightly closed. He ended up with a pretty noticeable scar.

I noticed that, too!   It made me kind of mad to watch! He obviously takes good care of himself and likes to be able to take his shirt off, so a big scar is the last thing he wants. The edges of the skin weren’t even placed together along the incision. Dark skin can potentially scar worse than pale skin and she didn’t seem to use the level of care she should have. He obviously exercises and lift weights, so I would’ve thought she would have stitched him up out more carefully because he could easily pull a stitch doing something physical.

Edited February 1, 2019 by PityFree

[blatantlyobvious]

Those “cysters” need to GTF off of my screen. Vapid idiots on par with some of the Botched psych cases. I can’t believe Dr. Lee entertained these two, just to drain cysts that came back within days. What was the point of that, when there are actual people who NEED her help for problems she CAN fix??

Nose guy, for example. 

[xls]

Damn, she did a better nose job on that guy than the Botched Dr's would have!

[Twopper]

1 hour ago, PityFree said:

noticed that, too!   It made me kind of mad to watch! He obviously takes good care of himself and likes to be able to take his shirt off, so a big scar is the last thing he wants. The edges of the skin weren’t even placed together along the incision. Dark skin can potentially scar worse than pale skin and she didn’t seem to use the level of care she should have. He obviously exercises and lift weights, so I would’ve thought she would have stitched him up out more carefully because he could easily pull a stitch doing something physical.

He would have been sent home with a page or two of instructions for wound care  which would definitely include not exercising and not lifting weights.  My husband had a very small skin cancer removed this summer and was told not to lift anything over 10 pounds for 2 weeks and no exercising.  I would expect he was told something very similar.

[mmecorday]

The "Cysters" weren't cute, they were annoying as hell. I wish more time had been spent on the gentleman from Montana with the ghastly case of rhinophyma. Damn, if Dr. Lee hadn't found her calling in dermatology, she would have made a great sculptor.

[Jadzia]

I was interested in the Ganglion cyst women because I had one about 15 years ago. I had mine removed by a surgeon. He told me that even with surgery, there is a still a 10% chance it can come back. Thankfully mine never returned, but I still have an ugly scar on the top side of my wrist. I jokingly refer to it as my "blond suicide attempt". The weird thing about the cyst is that it literally appeared overnight.

I wonder why the nose guy did not follow directions about going off the blood thinners?

I really don't like how they have the fake consultations with Dr. Lee's husband. He does not add anything helpful and it just undermines her authority and makes her look less sure of herself if she has to go run things by her husband.

[StatisticalOutlier]

The second I saw those "cysters," I exclaimed, "Ganglions!"  My brother had one on each wrist 50 years ago, when he was a kid, and had them surgically removed.  Zzzzzzzzzz.  Talk about a condition they could have had done locally, or even by whacking it with a Bible at home. 

The one bright spot with this condition is the word "ganglion," which was very popular in our house for quite some time.  Get away from me with your GANGLIONS. 

As for the guy from Montana with the nose, whose grandkids were scared of him.  Impressive parenting there.  I compare that to the woman an episode or two back who had some facial disfigurement, and her young daughter was so sad for her. 

Actually, I like to think the grandkids thing was made up for drama (I noticed we didn't see them accepting him after the procedure), but then that means they were willing to throw them under the bus for the sake of a story line. 

Also, if we're to believe what was presented, the doctor told you to stop your blood thinners before trekking from Montana to California to get free treatment for a nose that prevents you from breathing and scares people, and you halved your dose?  The hell?  At least he told her that's what he'd done; mad props for that. 

[Twopper]

4 minutes ago, Jadzia said:

really don't like how they have the fake consultations with Dr. Lee's husband. He does not add anything helpful and it just undermines her authority and makes her look less sure of herself if she has to go run things by her husband.

Yes, I absolutely hate this.  Actually, I think it might be good if he would pop (sorry about my word choice) in for some of the weirdest or most difficult ones and actually look at the patient.  That would make the consultation seem more real.   I think he probably does look at some of them, but we don't see it. 

I have no idea about the man who didn't follow her instructions about the blood thinners.  I wanted to slap him.   I guess he was afraid to go off because he started taking half the dosage.  I don't understand why he didn't ask his own doctor about going off them.  It took away much of my good will toward him, although by the end I was pleased for him as the treatment worked really well.  

I was okay with the "Cysters" except there was much too much of them. 

What I did like about the episode was we got to see a non-compliant patient (the nose) and an outcome that appeared at first to have worked but didn't and that needed a referral to another doctor.   It added a bit of reality to her patients

[GaT]

Why didn’t the nose guy stop his blood thinner? They told him to, why did he only reduce the dosage? What did he think would happen? You would think that if he went to all the trouble of traveling from Montana he would follow instructions. Also, I would think a plastic surgeon would be a better bet than a dermatologist in this case.

[2727]

Oh, dear. I've started fast-forwarding through half the show these days. Gone are the segments of patients explaining how much their condition/lump upsets their lives, anything with Mr. Dr. Lee, all the cutesy banter with the nurses, and the post-procedure hallway interviews. Any time spent showing the patients their removed crud is also a pass. Which leaves the consultation, procedures, and the final follow-ups. It's zippy.

I didn't mind the ganglion cysts because I don't think we've seen them before and it was interesting to learn about treatment. (Although according to policy, I didn't watch the parts that seemed to tick y'all off!)

I have a large, stretched-out scar on my back from a 4" lipoma removal about 20 years ago, and I tell any massage therapists or nurses who ask about it that I was in a bar fight in Tijuana.

Edited February 1, 2019 by 2727

[Rickster]

4 hours ago, GaT said:

Why didn’t the nose guy stop his blood thinner? They told him to, why did he only reduce the dosage? What did he think would happen? You would think that if he went to all the trouble of traveling from Montana he would follow instructions. Also, I would think a plastic surgeon would be a better bet than a dermatologist in this case.

I’m going to guess that since he had a history of blood clots in the legs, he was nervous about a recurrence during his travel to California, since hours sitting still is a major contributor to clots occurring.

This case was also a good example of how there must be prior consultations with Dr. Lee or staff if they told him to stop blood thinners in advance of showing up at the office.

[JJ1]

I had a ganglion cyst on my wrist several years ago. Talked to a doctor who referred me to a surgeon. I can’t remember how much the surgeon was going to charge, but I remember deciding I could just live with the cyst instead! Anyway, I got in a (probably bad) habit of rubbing it while I was sitting in traffic and one day, as I was rubbing it, it just collapsed. Looked at wrist and I had a slight bruise. It came back a few weeks later but a little more rubbing and it disappeared again. End of cyst.

And with a lot less angst than those two seemed to be going through! 

[libgirl2]

I seem to remember having one of those cysts on my wrists when I was a child. I remember my mom saying it what it was (in Spanish). I didn't have surgery though and it was rather small. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

5 hours ago, Rickster said:

I’m going to guess that since he had a history of blood clots in the legs, he was nervous about a recurrence during his travel to California, since hours sitting still is a major contributor to clots occurring.

I'm sure that's exactly what happened, which is why I was so glad he admitted that's what he did because the last thing she needs is to find out about it when she removes 2/3 of his nose and he won't stop bleeding.

There's no love lost between doctors and me, but they have my sympathy because of having to deal with patients.  I don't know...maybe it wasn't explained sufficiently how important it is for him to stop the blood thinners, but dammit, he was told not to take them, and he took them anyway--at a half dose.  The better approach would have been, "Okay.  But if I'm not on blood thinners, what should I do to prevent a blood clot due to the plane flight?" 

Or, you know, ask the doctor who has him on blood thinners what he should do.  But don't just take it upon yourself to decide that you'll take half.  

Or...maybe the producers made it look worse than what he actually did.  That would be payback if he made up that part about his grandchildren being afraid of him. 

Anyway, I had a similar reaction to the guy with the scaly skin, who was convinced it was caused by chemicals when he was deployed in the Middle East(?)  Apparently that's not how it works, but you'll never get him to believe otherwise.  It must be maddening to be up against that sort of thing, and particularly maddening if you're a doctor because doctors generally are pretty confident in their opinions.

Oh, and a tidbit--where the nose guy is from is where The Unabomber was living.  Between him and a memorable case on Dr. Pimple Popper, that's a lot of notoriety for such a small town.

 

Quote

This case was also a good example of how there must be prior consultations with Dr. Lee or staff if they told him to stop blood thinners in advance of showing up at the office.

I assumed that for the ones on TV, especially where people are traveling to California, there's vetting going on, which likely would include discussing what medication a person is on.  It makes me wonder if it's a video consultation, so she's actually seen the condition before they actually arrive in person.

As usual with these shows, the scales are falling from my eyes.  Like when she asked the "cysters" if she was treating both of them.  Uh, doc?  Why did I spend all that time filling out my medical history if you weren't even going to glance at it enough to know there would be two of us in here?  So it's pretty obvious that was made up for TV, which makes me wonder about the rest.

Oh well.  I just started watching this show and was already FFing past some of it, which isn't a good sign.  I'm not quite ready to adopt @2727's measures, but I do watch the "how this affects my life" on 1.3 speed.  Baby steps. 

And I'm still charmed by Lee singing and playing the guitar in the Christmas episode.

[xls]

13 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

The second I saw those "cysters," I exclaimed, "Ganglions!"  My brother had one on each wrist 50 years ago, when he was a kid, and had them surgically removed.  Zzzzzzzzzz.  Talk about a condition they could have had done locally, or even by whacking it with a Bible at home. 

The one bright spot with this condition is the word "ganglion," which was very popular in our house for quite some time.  Get away from me with your GANGLIONS. 

As for the guy from Montana with the nose, whose grandkids were scared of him.  Impressive parenting there.  I compare that to the woman an episode or two back who had some facial disfigurement, and her young daughter was so sad for her. 

Actually, I like to think the grandkids thing was made up for drama (I noticed we didn't see them accepting him after the procedure), but then that means they were willing to throw them under the bus for the sake of a story line. 

Also, if we're to believe what was presented, the doctor told you to stop your blood thinners before trekking from Montana to California to get free treatment for a nose that prevents you from breathing and scares people, and you halved your dose?  The hell?  At least he told her that's what he'd done; mad props for that. 

Thats  what we did back in the day-whack 'em with a book!

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Poppers,

We did a little hiding in the thread.  Please do not tell other posters what they can post.  That's not how this works.  

[Arynm]

I have also had trouble with a ganglion cyst.I have had it on and off since high school, it would "pop" and then come back from time to time. A couple of years ago it came back and somehow trapped a nerve. It was really painful and made my fingers numb so I had it surgically removed. I was the lucky one who had it come back about 2 months ago and I had to have it surgically removed again! Dr. said it most likely won't come back again, but he said that the first time. I have a nasty scar on the top of my wrist, but it's better than the pain and numbness. When those girls had them drained I knew it would be back within days, it's a sac in there that fills up, you have to get rid of the sac to get rid of the cyst.

[auntjess]

Is everyone ready for the Poppy Bowl?  I see it's in 2 3-hour segments, from 5PM-11PM, basically Super Bowl time.
I hope amid the rehashing there are updates, especially on Delano, the guy the the leaking lymph bump on his back.

[PityFree]

On 1/31/2019 at 10:12 PM, Jadzia said:

I was interested in the Ganglion cyst women because I had one about 15 years ago. I had mine removed by a surgeon. He told me that even with surgery, there is a still a 10% chance it can come back. Thankfully mine never returned, but I still have an ugly scar on the top side of my wrist. I jokingly refer to it as my "blond suicide attempt". The weird thing about the cyst is that it literally appeared overnight.

 I had a ganglion cyst in my right wrist up until a few years ago. It hurt sometimes. I went to a hand doctor and she tried to drain it, but it would not drain.  I really didn’t want to have to get surgery on it so I just lived with it.

About five years ago I decided to paint the inside of my house by myself— horrible idea.  At one point I got extremely frustrated and went to hit my fist against a ladder.  I ended up accidentally hitting my wrist so hard that I  thought I might have a broken it. But you know what? My ganglion cyst went away and hasn’t come back since. 

 I do not recommend this course of treatment.

[2727]

Marathon today starting at 5pm Eastern:

For those who don’t care for the Super Bowl, Dr. Sandra Lee, a.k.a. Dr. Pimple Popper, is here to save the day. TLC is set to air Dr. Pimple Popper: The Poppy Bowl on Sunday, February 3.

The 6-hour marathon event will run from 5pm-11pm EST and feature six fan-favorite episodes of Dr. Pimple Popper. Fans will get never-before-seen footage, including POP-up factoids and untold behind-the-scenes stories. The marathon will also include updates on some of Dr. Lee’s most memorable patients.

[readheaded]

On 2/2/2019 at 4:51 PM, Arynm said:

I have also had trouble with a ganglion cyst.I have had it on and off since high school, it would "pop" and then come back from time to time. A couple of years ago it came back and somehow trapped a nerve. It was really painful and made my fingers numb so I had it surgically removed. I was the lucky one who had it come back about 2 months ago and I had to have it surgically removed again! Dr. said it most likely won't come back again, but he said that the first time. I have a nasty scar on the top of my wrist, but it's better than the pain and numbness. When those girls had them drained I knew it would be back within days, it's a sac in there that fills up, you have to get rid of the sac to get rid of the cyst.

My mom had one that caused carpal tunnel and had to be removed by an orthopedic surgeon.  She was a secretary and had a difficult time typing because of the numbness and tingling or pain in her wrist.  This was many years ago and it never came back.  She was concerned at the time that depending on the way the surgery turned out that she wouldn't be able to work as a secretary anymore, but fortunately, the surgery was successful.

[PityFree]

 Please tell me these “where are they now” update are not just mini replays of each person’s scenes.  Hey show people we already saw the episodes!! We want updates!

[Twopper]

22 hours ago, PityFree said:

 Please tell me these “where are they now” update are not just mini replays of each person’s scenes.  Hey show people we already saw the episodes!! We want updates!

I wish I could, but I can't .    I think there was a little bit of extra footage about the skinny guy from Hawaii who had the boob on his side, but I think it was filmed at the same time as the original update.  Fortunately, I recorded it, because I cannot watch her in real time because I find there is too much filler for me.  So I watched 6 hours in about 40 minutes.  There were a couple of people I didn't remember that well so I paid a little attention to them---one was the woman who had one normal --well, maybe plump side--and one much heavier side; I wanted to see an update on her.  But alas,  I know no more about the patients than I did before I watched it.   Oh, there was extra footage about the trainer with the bump over his eye.  At least it was footage I didn't recall seeing before, but I am sure it was shot at the same time because I remembered the first part of his update.   Very disappointing!

[Jadzia]

Most of the extra footage was disappointing because they basically replayed the footage -- that we just saw-- to recap their first visit then had one quick little scene of video that the poppee sent in as an update. There wasn't much news to report. The main thing is that the young girl who had the extra thing sticking out of her butt was able to get spinal surgery to permanently fix her issue since Dr. Lee was only able to give her a cosmetic improvement (and it started to come back.) Also the guy in Hawaii with the sideboob apparently got a marriage proposal on Facebook based on his appearance but he turned it down.

I was hoping to get some sort of update on the man from the first episode that had the weird fluid in his back and needed surgery to fix the leak.

Edited February 5, 2019 by Jadzia

[auntjess]

18 hours ago, Jadzia said:

I was hoping to get some sort of update on the man from the first episode that had the weird fluid in his back and needed surgery to fix the leak.

That's what I was really hoping for, because the last thing we heard, was she still hadn't found a doctor to do it.   (I'd think there would be hospital expenses too, and it sounds like it could be fairly complicated, but I really hope this can be done.)
I think his name is Delano.
 

[threebluestars]

"Larry looked like the devil's Creamsicle."

Have not laughed that hard in a long time.

[StatisticalOutlier]

It never would have occurred to me that the gunk in those things would be black if you're black, but now that know cysts are full of dead skin cells and not pus, it makes sense.  TLC's doing a good job of reclaiming the "learning" in its name.

I can't believe nobody's talking about the horn on the lady's head.  That thing was loose; I bet she could have worked it off herself over time--a wiggle here and a wiggle there.

[2727]

16 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

I can't believe nobody's talking about the horn on the lady's head.  That thing was loose; I bet she could have worked it off herself over time--a wiggle here and a wiggle there.

Home surgery again, but the horn itself is made of keratin with no nerve cells -- wouldn't you at least have snipped that part off as soon as it grew out? 

(An image search for cutaneous horn suggests otherwise. Warning: I looked so you don't have to.)

[Natalie68]

47 minutes ago, 2727 said:

Home surgery again, but the horn itself is made of keratin with no nerve cells -- wouldn't you at least have snipped that part off as soon as it grew out? 

(An image search for cutaneous horn suggests otherwise. Warning: I looked so you don't have to.)

Did they say what that was?  I am fascinated with the show but can't bring myself to watch it.  I saw the trailer for this one and have been dying to know what that was.

[rhys]

I think Dr Lee should have removed the woman's bumps that were behind her right ear, too. That keratin horn looked awful.

Victor's lump was disgusting. I was thinking "oh, I  bet that stinks."  

 i wondered if she took a bunch of skin off of popeye's arm  before suturing. That was a huge lipoma with a lot of excess skin.

[2727]

1 hour ago, Natalie68 said:

Did they say what that was?  I am fascinated with the show but can't bring myself to watch it.  I saw the trailer for this one and have been dying to know what that was.

It's called a cutaneous horn or keratin horn. To save you the photos in the wiki article:

Cutaneous horns, also known by the Latin name cornu cutaneum, are unusual keratinous skin tumors with the appearance of horns, or sometimes of wood or coral. Formally, this is a clinical diagnosis for a "conical projection above the surface of the skin." They are usually small and localized, but can, in very rare cases be much larger.

Cause is unknown but they can be linked to radiation/sun exposure or the HPV virus. About 20% are malignant.

[auntjess]

22 hours ago, rhys said:

i wondered if she took a bunch of skin off of popeye's arm  before suturing. That was a huge lipoma with a lot of excess skin.

I imagine so, because she usually does.

[Honey]

22 hours ago, 2727 said:

It's called a cutaneous horn or keratin horn. To save you the photos in the wiki article:

Cutaneous horns, also known by the Latin name cornu cutaneum, are unusual keratinous skin tumors with the appearance of horns, or sometimes of wood or coral. Formally, this is a clinical diagnosis for a "conical projection above the surface of the skin." They are usually small and localized, but can, in very rare cases be much larger.

Cause is unknown but they can be linked to radiation/sun exposure or the HPV virus. About 20% are malignant.

I just call it the Frito from hell.

[AntAnn]

12 hours ago, Honey said:

On 2/9/2019 at 9:10 PM, 2727 said:

It's called a cutaneous horn or keratin horn. To save you the photos in the wiki article:

Cutaneous horns, also known by the Latin name cornu cutaneum, are unusual keratinous skin tumors with the appearance of horns, or sometimes of wood or coral. Formally, this is a clinical diagnosis for a "conical projection above the surface of the skin." They are usually small and localized, but can, in very rare cases be much larger.

Cause is unknown but they can be linked to radiation/sun exposure or the HPV virus. About 20% are malignant.

Read more  

I just call it the Frito from hell.

I would have picked that thing off in a heartbeat. 

[Natalie68]

On 2/9/2019 at 9:10 PM, 2727 said:

It's called a cutaneous horn or keratin horn. To save you the photos in the wiki article:

Cutaneous horns, also known by the Latin name cornu cutaneum, are unusual keratinous skin tumors with the appearance of horns, or sometimes of wood or coral. Formally, this is a clinical diagnosis for a "conical projection above the surface of the skin." They are usually small and localized, but can, in very rare cases be much larger.

Cause is unknown but they can be linked to radiation/sun exposure or the HPV virus. About 20% are malignant.

Thank you!!!!!

[libgirl2]

On 2/11/2019 at 9:59 AM, AntAnn said:

I would have picked that thing off in a heartbeat. 

Me too. 

[Emkat]

This episode might be it for me.  Everything in it was disgusting.  "Try the gray stuff" ...just gross.

[auntjess]

The only thing that I couldn't watch, was the girl who'd had her ears all stretched and mutilated.
I turned the TV to "guide," like I do when Dr. Nowzarden says "room light off."

[xls]

On ‎2‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 12:02 PM, libgirl2 said:

Me too. 

Me three! Most of these lumps wouldn't last very long with me I'm ashamed to say!

OMG this girl's ratty blue hair makes me crazy

[rhys]

Gotta love having subtitles from the dude from Mississippi cuz the rest of us have about a 20% chance of understanding everything he says. That accent was the bomb! Poor guy, tho, those cysts had to hurt.

[Temperance]

Re: the guy with the extra nose skin who didn't go off his blood thinners. I'm having trouble explaining, but I've known people like that. It's possible he just forgot to ask his doctor, but even that suggests that to him it wasn't a big deal. Which I think was the real problem. I don't think he really understood why he needed to be off his blood thinners.  To some people, they're not going to call a doctor for what doesn't that seem a big deal to them. Or they assume that if they see one doctor that doctor can handle/fix everything. 

[sempervivum]

The girl with the 'elf ear' keloids was gorgeous- it was bizarre that she turned up at Dr. Lee's in full, elaborate makeup and a giant wig, though. I'm surprised the doctor didn't make her remove the wig, it looked like she was struggling to get close enough to work on the ears. Also, the girl didn't look anything like her parents- did I miss an explanation about that?

[2727]

1 minute ago, sempervivum said:

The girl with the 'elf ear' keloids was gorgeous-

That was my main takeaway as well. She maybe looked even better with the buzz cut.

I wish Dr. Lee would have removed all the cysts on the man with the stinky pops. If you're going to do him a solid, go all the way.

[SunnyBeBe]

Dr. Lee seems like such a fun person to work with. Her staff seem to be very low key.  She and her husband appear to be very different. I suppose they compliment each other. 

Have you noticed the tv patients are always taken to exam room 6? lol

[Minivanessa]

31 minutes ago, sempervivum said:

The girl with the 'elf ear' keloids was gorgeous- it was bizarre that she turned up at Dr. Lee's in full, elaborate makeup and a giant wig, though. I'm surprised the doctor didn't make her remove the wig, it looked like she was struggling to get close enough to work on the ears. Also, the girl didn't look anything like her parents- did I miss an explanation about that?

I thought that was her own hair. In the follow up she said that after her ears were fixed she cut off all her hair and we saw her sporting a closely cropped do. And yes she is gorgeous.

[rhys]

9 minutes ago, Jeeves said:

I thought that was her own hair. In the follow up she said that after her ears were fixed she cut off all her hair and we saw her sporting a closely cropped do. And yes she is gorgeous.

Yep that's what she said. Hope she gets a modeling contract & finishes school both. 

[libgirl2]

1 hour ago, sempervivum said:

The girl with the 'elf ear' keloids was gorgeous- it was bizarre that she turned up at Dr. Lee's in full, elaborate makeup and a giant wig, though. I'm surprised the doctor didn't make her remove the wig, it looked like she was struggling to get close enough to work on the ears. Also, the girl didn't look anything like her parents- did I miss an explanation about that?

She was really gorgeous. I get the make up but not the wig. I went it for a medical procedure and wore full make up. Its just me. 

[threebluestars]

I have a feeling exam room 6 probably has some permanent lighting set up so they don't have to do it in a new room every time.

[GaT]

13 hours ago, sempervivum said:

The girl with the 'elf ear' keloids was gorgeous- it was bizarre that she turned up at Dr. Lee's in full, elaborate makeup and a giant wig, though. I'm surprised the doctor didn't make her remove the wig, it looked like she was struggling to get close enough to work on the ears. 

I agree, she was stunning. I think the full makeup & wig thing was because she wants to be a model, & this was her 15 minutes of fame, so she wanted to look good.

12 hours ago, Jeeves said:

I thought that was her own hair. In the follow up she said that after her ears were fixed she cut off all her hair and we saw her sporting a closely cropped do. And yes she is gorgeous.

I thought the braids was a wig, but the shoulder length hair was her real hair.

Edited February 16, 2019 by GaT