When a pimple next to his lip wouldn’t go away, this construction worker decided to get rid of it once and for all. He drained the blemish using a tool he had handy and went about his day like normal. However, it wasn’t long before the man figured out he had made a huge mistake.
A 23-year-old construction worker from Chicago caught a horrific fungal infection after deciding to drain a pimple on his lower lip with his woodworking blade. Soon after he tried this unconventional way of removing his zit, an unsightly mass began growing on his face.
For unknown reasons, the construction worker let it go for nearly seven months before seeking help from doctors, according to Daily Mail. By the time his condition was photographed, it was hard to look at. But two weeks after undergoing treatment, he was finally cured of the blood-encrusted lesion on his face.
“A 23-year-old previously healthy man presented with a slowly progressive, painful lip lesion,” read a case study on the man in The Journal of Emergency Medicine. “He previous snipped a ‘pimple’ on the lower lip with a woodworking blade, and he then developed the current lesion, which expanded over the past 7 months. He denied fever, chills, malaise, weight loss, cough, shortness of breath, or joint pain. He worked in construction and denied recent travel or sick contacts. He did not own any pets.”
The medical journal described the lesion on the man’s lower lip as “a large, heme-crusted, verrucous, erythematous plaque with a rolled, indurated border on the lower vermillion and cutaneous lips.” In other words, it was gross.
“Laboratory workup, including a complete blood cell count, comprehensive metabolic panel, and HIV antibody, was unremarkable,” reported the journal. “Chest radiography showed no infiltrate. A skin biopsy specimen exhibited rare, broad-based budding yeast forms, and fungal tissue culture grew blastomyces. The findings were consistent with a diagnosis of primary cutaneous blastomycosis.”
So, what is blastomycosis? Individuals can contract this condition after breathing in the microscopic fungal spores from the air. This often occurs after participating in activities that disturb the soil, according to the CDC. The infection is typically found in soil and animal habitats in areas close to the Great Lakes, the Ohio River basin, and the Mississippi River.
Symptoms usually appear within three weeks of someone breathing in the fungal spores. They include fever, cough, night sweats, muscle aches or joint pain, and even weight loss.
While this construction worker’s ordeal represents a very rare case, something similar could happen to anyone using unclean tools on their face. This should serve as a warning to anyone with a tendency to pop their pimples — do not use dirty tools on your face. You could end up facing a nightmare scenario.
Source: Tap Worthy Happenings
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