Watch as giant ‘SWEAT BALL’ removed from mum’s head – as docs ‘tease out’ daughter’s twin ‘fat lump’ on Bad Skin Clinic
Date: 2024-10-22A HEARTWARMING video shows a mum and daughter both have twin growths removed, after keeping them hidden for years.
“Life now is for living again,” Joyce, 79, announced after having a giant sweat lump removed, which had been growing behind her ear for over 40 years.
The growth started off as “a small lump” behind Joyce’s ear.
The mum visited a GP about it 35 years ago and was told it was a cyst.
“It’s nothing like a cyst now,” Joyce said, indicating the kidney-shaped growth.
“It’s got veins in it, it’s horrible,” she went on, saying it remind her of an “alien”.
Joyce kept the lump behind her ear carefully hidden for years, camouflaging it with her hair.
Her own daughter Dawn, 57, didn’t know about it about until recently.
“I learnt of my mum’s condition a few months ago,” Dawn said.
“I was just so shocked that she’d covered it for so long. I can’t believe I’ve just never noticed it.”
Joyce explained: “I just hid it from the world.
“I can’t believe that I’ve allowed this to happen to my body, and I am ashamed what has happened to my body,†she tearfully added.
The Essex-based mother and daughter duo had more in common then they thought, as Dawn also noticed a large bump starting to protrude from under her bra strap.
“I’ve got a lump on my back,” she said.
“To me, this lump is huge, but my mum’s lump is on a different level.”
The bump started off as pea-sized but grew bigger and bigger over nine years.
Together, Joyce and Dawn visited consultant dermatologist Dr Emma Craythorne at her clinic in London, to see if they can finally have their lumps removed.
Their story appears in the brand new series of the The Bad Skin Clinic, whose third episode will air tonight at 9pm.
‘It’s run my life’
At her initial consultation at Dr Craythorne’s clinic, a visibly emotional Joyce explained the lengths she’d gone to to hide the lump behind her ear for 40.
She even began cutting her own hairto hide it from a hairdresser.
“It’s just run my life, I cut my own hair, I have done for years,” the 79-year-old said.
Joyce said she hadn’t taken action sooner as she’d nursed a secret fear that the growth could be cancerous.
“What if they find it’s cancer, that’s just what I worry about,†she explained.
After taking a look behind Joyce’s ear, Dr Craythorne was able to pinpoint its cause – sweat.
“We can see that this is a very firm lump. This is made up lots of tiny, tiny little balls inside it.
“It’s on a little stalk underneath, so although it looks quite big, the attachment to you is much smaller.
The dermatologist went on: “To me this looks like something called an ‘eccrine’ – which just means from sweat – ‘giant’ -because it’s pretty big – ‘spiradenoma’.
“It’s related to the sweat glands, and so you make lots and lots of these in one place.
“And the material that you’re kind of seeing through this watery substance is like a sweat.
“Now, why some people get this, we don’t really understand, the cells have just gone into overdrive, and you’re making more and more and more of them.â€
Dr Craythorne then addressed the concern that had been weighing on Joyce for years – whether or not the lump was cancerous.
“I also want to just tell you one thing to make you feel a bit calmer, I really do not think at all that this is any type of a cancer, so I want you to feel relieved about that,†she said.
A joyful and relieved Joyce burst into tears.
Dr Craythorne was able to remove Joyce’s lump that very same day.
With the mum prepped for surgery, Dr Craythorne injected the lump to numb it, and got to work with her scalpel, slowly and precisely making incisions to detach the lump.
“I’m really excited to do this for you Joyce, I can see how much this has been worrying you,†she said, to which Joyce replied, “what you’re doing today is a miracle. It’s a long time coming.â€
“40 years in the making, and about 4 minutes to get removed!†Dr Emma joked as she pulled the lump free.
Next, she sealed off the blood vessels that had been supplying and growing the lump, before stitching Joyce back up.
“You don’t know what this means to me,” an overjoyed Joyce said upon seeing herself without the lump that plagued her life for 40 years.
‘On to the next lump’
Dr Craythorne wasted no time in seeing to Dawn’s bump too.
The 57-year-old said: “I first developed a lump on my back here,” indicating the spot beneath her bra strap.
“It started off as a small pea, but over 9 years, it’s got bigger and bigger.
“It’s a different feeling to my mum’s, it’s squidgy, it moves around.”
Dr Craythorne said: “Undoubtedly this is a lipoma.
“‘Lipo’ means fat, and ‘oma’ is just a benign tumour.
“So this is not a cancer either, you don’t need to do anything about it.
“However, people often do because it might just keep getting bigger, and is often why we then operate on them.”
Dawn shared some of the bizarre ways she’d tried to shrink her lump at home.
“I read online that if you got a tomato, cut it in half and strap it to the lipoma, it shrinks overnight.
“I believed it! But it didn’t happen!â€Â she laughed
What is a lipoma?
Lipomas are soft, fatty lumps that grow under your skin.
They actually tend to be quite common.
They’re harmless and don’t usually need any treatment, but it’s important to get any lumps checked by a GP.
They:
- Feel soft and squishy
- Can be anything from the size of a pea to a few centimetres across
- May move slightly under your skin if you press them
- Are not usually painful
- Grow slowly
- Can appear anywhere on your body
You can get a lipoma removed on the NHS if it’s growing or causing symptoms because of where it is.
A lump is something to worry about if it’s:
- Painful, red or hot to touch
- Hard and does not move
- Increasing in size
In rare cases, lumps under your skin can be a sign of something more serious.
Source: NHS
Dawn was also prepped for surgery and the dermatologist got to work with removing it.
“Some of these lipomas come out in a thick capsule, this is a pretty fibrous, but very weakly encapsulated lipoma,” Dr Craythorne said.
“So we’re just teasing apart where the fibres are.”
The dermatologist’s assistant Mottie put it into simpler terms: “Basically it’s not a squeezy one, it’s a teasy one!â€
Dr Craythorne slowly wiggled out the lipoma from Dawn’s back and stitched the wound back up.
‘A new woman’
Joyce and Dawn met back up in the waiting room, beaming.
“For me and my mum, this means the absolute world,†Dawn said.
“You come in nearly in tears, and come out of her beaming don’t you?†Joyce replied.
Two weeks after their surgery, Joyce finally felt confident enough to have her hair cut by a hairdresser for the first time in 40 years.
Both were pleased with how their lumps have healed, with Joyce saying “my confidence has gone up from one to 10.â€
Dawn said: “It’s healed tremendously. I can wear the clothes I want to wear, I can go and put a bikini on in the summer now, which I couldn’t do before.
“I feel like a new woman, do you? This is the start of a new chapter,†she told her mum.
“Exactly, life now is for living again isn’t it?†Joyce replied.
