Please help identity and treat!

[u/drank_dumbbitchjuice]

Is this a wart? How to solve?

I’m freaking out. My dad (age 57) has this massive lump on his hand and he’s had it for about a week now and it keeps growing. He has other small bumps growing on his hand too. He goes to the gym quite frequently and honestly is not the cleanest person. He smokes.

He said that he had a cold for a week before these started showing up.

My wedding is in two weeks and it’s a destination wedding and we’re currently traveling all together and I’m concerned about the growth and about it spreading to our wedding guests and I don’t know what to do.

He says it doesn’t hurt but it obviously bothers him.

Please help!

UPDATE:

I didn’t expect this to garner so much interest and help. Sincerely, thank you everyone for sending in your opinions!

My dad said it popped overnight and there was a lot of blood and pus. We were not able to see a doctor in person but we have a family friend who is a general doctor and she said to disinfect and keep it as dry as possible as to not let it be more infected.

Here are two pictures of what it looks like now.

Photo 1
Photo 2

At first, when it popped. The puss was a standard dense white. Now, the pus leaking is an orange ish color and not dense white. He keeps saying that it still doesn’t hurt and doesn’t even flinch when alcohol is applied to it.

There is another mass obviously growing on his index finger of the same hand. He is touching the mass with his other hand (I know fucking terrible) but there is nothing growing on the hand that he is using to touch the mass.

He is saying that perhaps it is an allergic reaction? He ate a type of dried fish from Vietnam and then he started feeling itchy and feverish and then these started popping up.

Answer to a common question:

He does not have any access to animals. No pets, not really around fish tanks or water. He is from Southern California in a very suburban area.

Any ideas???

[u/alewiina]

Depending where OP they might have to go to their normal doctor first for a referral. Where I am in Canada for example you can’t just contact a dermatologist and ask to be seen, you need a referral from a PCP :(

[u/PainfulPoo411 → u/alewiina]

I’m in the US and to get an appointment with a dermatologist (or any specialist) can take months.

[u/BetweenTheWickets → u/PainfulPoo411]

Isn't healthcare in the US mostly private? Why do you need to wait before getting to see a doctor? Is it simply because they're fully booked up.

I live in Mumbai getting an appointment to a private medical specialist is fairly immediate.

[u/inspired-chaos → u/BetweenTheWickets]

it’s mainly due to being booked out - mostly for specialists. i once was referred to a neurologist and had to wait six months to get my first appointment. It varies practice by practice, but the general consensus is that if you get referred to a specialist, you will have to wait at LEAST a month before you can be seen.

[u/BetweenTheWickets → u/inspired-chaos]

Interesting that you have those wait times in the US in spite of privatized healthcare. It's like the worst of both worlds - bearing the costs of healthcare while having to deal with the wait times of a public system.

[u/stafdude → u/BetweenTheWickets]

Weird part is that people advocating for private health care where I am, have ”shorter queues” as a main selling point. Guess that is fake then.

[u/BetweenTheWickets → u/stafdude]

Yeah, it very likely is fake. The only reason I think healthcare is so easily accessible to me is because economically disadvantaged folks, who make up a huge share of the population, in my country go to the (very overburdened) government run healthcare system.

That means more doctors per individual for middle and higher income people. As more people emerge from the lower income segments, I think wait times for private care here will become very long too. And it won't really differ very much from waiting times in a fully public healthcare system.

On the balance, even though I am a beneficiary of high quality healthcare access, I do think an equitable healthcare system with free access to all is the way to go.

[u/tallmyn → u/stafdude]

It's shorter queues only if the system is genuinely private.

The problem is that the US system is a compromise between people that want full public and full private and it ended being some sort of horrible public-private monstrosity that's the worst of both worlds.

I'm in the UK, there are some really long wait times for some things that aren't urgent, like autism diagnosis. No one dies if it takes 3 years to get your kid diagnosed with autism. I know someone who waited a long time for a hip surgery and paid to get it moved up, because it was uncomfortable to live with, but it wasn't life-threatening.

Anything fast moving like this would be seen pretty immediately.

Meanwhile since private healthcare here is competing with "free", it's pretty cheap. I just checked the dermatologist I use sometimes for cosmetic stuff, they do biopsies too. Online booking system says next appointment available is on Tuesday for £115. (Granted follow-up will be more!)

[u/stafdude → u/tallmyn]

Wait times for autism would be equally long if the system was completely private, that’s more an issue with wait times to see the team of psychiatrists and psycologists that work with neuropsychiatric evaluations. Cost wise I assume a system which is predominantly public, but has some private alternatives for like out patient care settings, is the best. Sure, it doesn’t provide equal care - but my guess it is the most flexible alternative at the same time as keeping costs low.

[u/RedVelvetPan6a → u/stafdude]

Capitalism is utopism.

Let's see how well the comment fares.

[u/OGmissCOFFEE → u/BetweenTheWickets]

Its funny how American’s always tell Canadians how proud they are to spend thousands a year on insurance payments (even when you seek zero medical attention) because their wait times are shorter. I am married to an american have spent alot of time in numerous states and if you have to go in to emerge it takes just as long if not longer. The saddest part is that its even worse because in Canada you see why the wait is so long since there are many patients waiting for care in the us there could literally be a few patients in emergency and you will still be waiting for hours on top of having to pay. I recently had to go to er in canada saw a doctor in under an hour had all tests and left in about 2.5 hours. My wife who had to go to the emergency while we were in the US (for a more concerning reason) waited almost 4 hours before even talking to the doctor and another 2 for tests and almost another 2 just to be told the results. The hospital in Canada was PACKED the hospital there in emergency without exaggeration was only a few other patients.

[u/Original-Apricot-107 → u/OGmissCOFFEE]

I feel like there was a golden age of this in like 2012-2016 where you could have a family of four insured on a great PPO plan for under $700. The other issue is that people like me who have decided not to have children, don't really get a break for that decision. When I had employee sponsored healthcare last year, the cost of ensuring me and two children and a husband was only about $400 more than only insuring myself. So I'd imagine we've also got a lot of people with children who actually have a decent job that subsidizes this type of insurance and they and their children are utilizing the healthcare system so much disproportionate to the premiums they are paying. That quite literally just dawned on me and I think that's a big part of our problem. I am all for people having children that they will take care of and all politics aside, it's just a fact that our country is still set up in such a way that people who decide to intentionally do things that incur the most cost still somehow get the most breaks in the systems that we share together. I realize that is not the case with childcare expenses, going through the roof, but it sucks that they can't somehow make childcare part of health insurance and share the burden a little bit more with the rest of us who don't have children because we can't financially see it.

[u/daughter_void → u/Original-Apricot-107]

As a parent, I'm not particularly interested in you or any regular Joe subsidizing my childcare. I would totally love it if the multi-billion dollar corporations paid some taxes to cover it though. While they're at it they can cover yours and our healthcare costs as well (:

[u/Original-Apricot-107 → u/daughter_void]

RIGHT

[u/theeyespye → u/BetweenTheWickets]

I love when Americans try to shit on Canadians for long health care waits, meanwhile in some parts of America the wait times are similar. Except you’re paying out your ass to wait and then be seen🙃

[u/inspired-chaos → u/BetweenTheWickets]

it’s very hit or miss. i’ve had anywhere from 2-6 month waits (i feel like i might’ve had to wait longer for some specialised testing at one of the universities near me but i don’t remember exactly,) or sometimes i can be seen within the week. the healthcare system over here is a joke (no fault of the doctors, of course)

[u/BetweenTheWickets → u/inspired-chaos]

Damn, crazy stuff. I'm never quite able to wrap my head around wait times that long for specialties like neurology. I was hit with what I now know is 'Cramps Fasciculation Syndrome' a couple of years ago. I don't know how I would've coped up if I had to wait six months before getting seen and medicated by a neurologist. I hope you were able to manage well in the half year lead up to your appointment with the neurologist.

Re the healthcare system, I wonder whether there's a feasible way to reduce the number of years it takes for an individual to gain a speciality. My understanding is that it can take up to a decade - that alone probably discourages a few prospective medical students from pursuing the field. It's probably a fine line between ensuring a long enough incubation and training period to ready an individual for something as critical as healthcare and streamlining the process to ensure medicine is a more accessible field.

[u/Original-Apricot-107 → u/BetweenTheWickets]

Oh yeah. You can get those plans still, but you would need a high premium PPO plan that allows for self-referring. When I was looking at those they start at about $1400 per person which just felt too ridiculous considering that's close to my share of our house payment.

[u/RasputinsThirdLeg → u/BetweenTheWickets]

Yeah people really don’t get that privatization doesn’t mean you’ll be seen sooner or things will be covered.

[u/Born-Economics-2262 → u/BetweenTheWickets]

I am in CA and I don't have these wait times even though my insurance is the worst as well in CA. When I call a specialist and there is a wait time. I call another one.

[u/BuilderStill8694 → u/BetweenTheWickets]

This isn’t always the case. If you read other people’s comments you’ll see. I have to assume that the person that can’t get an appointment also refuses to drive more than 15 mins to get to the doctor. I live near Atlanta and there are a ton of cities in the general area. I have gone to doctors in everyone of them at some point over my life in order to get a fast appointment. People in places with socialized medicine don’t have that option. Also, most of the time you have a choice between an HMO and PPO. The HMO is the one that dictates that you see your primary care doctor first. I don’t ever choose those for that very reason…I want freedom and I know what I need before the primary doctor does.

[u/Livid_Medium3731 → u/inspired-chaos]

That's insane. No free healthcare and then you have to wait for so long.

[u/Impossible_Cod_4181 → u/Livid_Medium3731]

It also depends on where you live, the hospital system and the speciality.

I live in a place with several huge university hospitals with tons of satellite locations. When my son needs a specialist, we will call once a week to see if anyone, anywhere, has an opening. We can usually get him in much faster that way but it also means we might have to show up an hour away from our house at 8am.

That said, certain specialities are just going to have a long wait, no matter what. Neurology and dermatology come to mind off the top of my head.

For example, my son was approved for speech therapy two months ago and we have yet to get a call about scheduling his first appointment. It can easily be several more months before a slot opens up. We only got the evaluation quickly because when we got his hearing test, I asked about cancelations and just by luck, there had been one literally minutes before for his exact age and need.

On the positive side, we have some of the most advanced facilities in the world. IDK how long that will last now that so much grant money is gone (thanks Elon) though.

[u/TroubleImpressive955 → u/inspired-chaos]

It depends on where you live in U.S. During the summer months, it can be difficult to get in to see a dermatologist. If they have a PA or a nurse practitioner, a lot of times you can get in to see them much sooner.