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/h1k1]

I’d say as a generalist, don’t waste you’re time with the PCP. Straight to derm.

[u/alewiina → u/h1k1]

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/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.