Dr. Pimple Popper Helps a Patient With a Golfball-Sized Bump on His Finger
• On the season premiere of TLC's Dr. Pimple Popper, we met Gerald, a crossing guard with a large bump on his left middle finger.
• On episode two, Lee connects Gerald with a hand surgeon, Dr. James Lilley, who can perform his surgery.
• Lilley successfully removes the tumor from Gerald's finger.
On the season premiere of the new season of Dr. Pimple Popper, we met a nice dude named Gerald with a golfball-sized growth on his left middle finger. By the end of the episode, it seemed like Lee may not be able to help him—but sure enough, come episode two, we learned that Gerald's story has a happy ending.
To recap, Gerald is a 33-year-old crossing guard and new dad from Chicago. The bump—which began as the size of a pea—has been on his finger for over eight years, and he's finally ready to get rid of it.
"I feel that if she cant help me, I’m probably going to die with this thing on my finger," he said in last week's episode.
A post shared by Sandra Lee, MD, FAAD, FAACS (@drpimplepopper) on Jul 17, 2019 at 6:26pm PDT
Lee told Gerald she wasn't able to do the surgery because it wasn't just a skin issue—but she wanted to find some way to help him. And in episode two, Lee reveals that she sent Gerald's CT scans to Dr. James Lilley, a hand surgeon. Lilley agrees to perform Gerald's surgery.
Lee confesses that she's going to watch the surgery: a) because she likes to see other doctors at work, and b) because she's "excited to see what's going to come out of Gerald's finger." We love you, Dr. Lee.
In no time, Lilley is slicing into Gerald's tumor. "This is a one-in-20-year kind of a thing. this is very unusual," he says. There's good news early on in the procedure. The tumor looks to be a "well-contained ball," as Lee puts it, which means Lilley can remove it and minimize the risk of it coming back.
As the surgery progresses, Lilley takes care not to sever any of Gerald's nerves so as not to create numbness in his finger. "You worry about accidents happening. It can be like a minefield," Lilley says.
At last, Lilley snips the tumor free from Gerald's finger. It's gone! All that's left to do is close up the hole in the skin—and, if you're Lee, play around with the severed mass.
"I feel like I've started a new adventure," Gerald says when the surgery is over.
"I see the beginning of a new life."
Five weeks after the surgery, Lee explains that the growth was a chondroid syringoma. Watch these clips of Gerald's surgery. Warning: They're pretty graphic!
Gerald and his bump. Tonight on @tlc Dr Pimple Popper 9/8c #drpimplepopper pic.twitter.com/VYkaHqopD1
— Dr Pimple Popper (@SandraLeeMD) July 18, 2019
This is so nerve-racking! 🤞 #DrPimplePopper pic.twitter.com/gn667KikMF
— TLC Network (@TLC) July 19, 2019
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