Can coral polyps grow in your skin?
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So, an update:
I got back from traveling, and the bleach thing worked...the stuff fell off in about 4 days.
As to the "coral man" reference, the doctor in question has an ironic sense of humor that I saw as obvious, and that I thought would be obvious to others as well. I"ll also note that I have this "magical" ability to do this thing called "reading on the Internet," so yes, I think everyone involved (even me, wow) knew that "tree man" had HPV...the non-humorous/ironic point of the reference was that weird things happen even with common ailments like HPV. It reminds me of something one of my attorney friends says, "You have to be kinda' stupid to think that anyone is that stupid." Not quite true, but it makes a good point. Anyway, if the "tree man" and "coral man" cases were not relatively famous, I'm sure that someone with that affliction could post something on a medical board asking point-blank if it was HPV, and some doctors would say: "No way in heck, go to the Mayo clinic man!" Anyone hear of Planet Vulcan?
Facts:
1. The abrasion on my skin was not very deep, and there didn't appear to be any place for a piece or coral to be lodged.
2. From the area of the abrasion, a pattern identical to the pattern of Brain Coral began to grow. It was not there the first few days, but appeared about a week later.
3. The pattern had a kind of furry and calciferous texture...just like live coral...oh, and it was the same color too. Maybe it was "radioactive coral." (That's sarcasm by the way for those who have difficulty noticing it in print.)
Anyway, if someone can give a "scientific" explanation for why it would be impossible for coral to grow on skin...have at it, and book me a flight to Planet Vulcan while you are at it.
Moral of the story:
I don't really know what that was on my knee...but the bleach seems to have worked, and it's gone...which makes me a happy camper.
Toodles,
- J
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I got back from traveling, and the bleach thing worked...the stuff fell off in about 4 days.
As to the "coral man" reference, the doctor in question has an ironic sense of humor that I saw as obvious, and that I thought would be obvious to others as well. I"ll also note that I have this "magical" ability to do this thing called "reading on the Internet," so yes, I think everyone involved (even me, wow) knew that "tree man" had HPV...the non-humorous/ironic point of the reference was that weird things happen even with common ailments like HPV. It reminds me of something one of my attorney friends says, "You have to be kinda' stupid to think that anyone is that stupid." Not quite true, but it makes a good point. Anyway, if the "tree man" and "coral man" cases were not relatively famous, I'm sure that someone with that affliction could post something on a medical board asking point-blank if it was HPV, and some doctors would say: "No way in heck, go to the Mayo clinic man!" Anyone hear of Planet Vulcan?
Facts:
1. The abrasion on my skin was not very deep, and there didn't appear to be any place for a piece or coral to be lodged.
2. From the area of the abrasion, a pattern identical to the pattern of Brain Coral began to grow. It was not there the first few days, but appeared about a week later.
3. The pattern had a kind of furry and calciferous texture...just like live coral...oh, and it was the same color too. Maybe it was "radioactive coral." (That's sarcasm by the way for those who have difficulty noticing it in print.)
Anyway, if someone can give a "scientific" explanation for why it would be impossible for coral to grow on skin...have at it, and book me a flight to Planet Vulcan while you are at it.
Moral of the story:
I don't really know what that was on my knee...but the bleach seems to have worked, and it's gone...which makes me a happy camper.
Toodles,
- J
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Hi Dude,
In general, corals need a number of conditions to grow and survive, including constant bathing in water within a range of salinity/pH, an adequate supply of algae/zooplankton and dissolved nutrients, and the host bacteria (zooxanthella) needed to assist in nourishment and, along with calcium carbonate saturation, in the formation of their colonial body structure. Most zooxanthella, and hence corals, also need sunlight.
This constellation of requirements is unlikely to exist on or within the normal human body.
Regards,
DocVikingo
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1. These fragments don't have to be very large (and certainly not visible to the unaided human eye), in order to cause a large, continuing hypersenitivity reaction. A shallow abrasion is entirely sufficient.
2. It's not clear to me exactly what "a pattern identical to the pattern of Brain Coral" looks like on the human skin, but in such a scrape it wouldn't be unusual for mottled areas and welt-like raised ridges on the skin vaguely reminiscent of "brain coral" to develop.
Regards,
DocVikingo
DevonDiver
N/A
Hatul
Contributor
Besides the physical factors, we have an immune system and cell soldiers in our blood and tissue that recognize foreign cells and kill them most of the time. The war goes on all the time with bacteria and parasites trying to enter. However you can get infections and abscesses from foreign bodies even when the cells have been killed.
Adam
Mark Derail
Contributor
To coin a term, I got Polyped!
I was bit on three fingers coming out of the Cathedrals lava tube, in Lanai HI, and was pushed into the rocks coming out by the current. I had to push off with my hand, on what I thought was bare rock.
If felt like electricity across three fingers, the next day the swelled with visible "holes". Similar to bad mosquito bites, except that it travels under the skin and spreads.
After nearly two months, I have on one finger a "moving" sore spot that comes out, heals, and maybe a week later, a new location. I am allergic to insect bites, btw.
I'll be diving with gloves in my BCD pockets from now on.
I was bit on three fingers coming out of the Cathedrals lava tube, in Lanai HI, and was pushed into the rocks coming out by the current. I had to push off with my hand, on what I thought was bare rock.
If felt like electricity across three fingers, the next day the swelled with visible "holes". Similar to bad mosquito bites, except that it travels under the skin and spreads.
After nearly two months, I have on one finger a "moving" sore spot that comes out, heals, and maybe a week later, a new location. I am allergic to insect bites, btw.
I'll be diving with gloves in my BCD pockets from now on.
Dude,
Glad the bleach worked. Hopefully it stays gone. Doc has already given you a good explanation as to why you can't have coral growing on you, so no need to reiterate, but with your internet reading ability perhaps you could have done sufficient research on your own and discovered this for yourself. A couple of examples from a cursory search:
CORALS AND CORAL REEFS
Coral Reef: Formation
Don't forget that YOU came HERE looking for advice, we didn't seek you out, so to come back with insults and sarcasm is uncalled for. I was trying to give you as complete an answer as possible. There are a few adjectives that could probably be applied to me, but "stupid" isn't one of them.
Regards,
DDM
brandys0524
New
This post actually lead me to this site. I have browsed before but never registered. My husband is having a VERY similar problem. We were snorkeling Waterlemon key in the USVI, and had our children with us. Our youngest had a moment of panic and forget his training, so my husband helped him float so he could clear his mask and resume. In the panic to make sure our son didn't drown, my husbands knee hit some rocks with very small amounts of coral growth on them... to small for us to even tell what kind.
It kind of stung for about a hr, and the knee got several weird bumbs on it, but then it went away by the next day. Now its been 3 weeks and it popped up again out of nowhere. It doesn't hurt or itch, put it feels like raised whelps under the skin and is reddish. There was never any sign that the skin was ever broken, so we are not sure how anything could have gotten in. There is about 6 of these whelps in a 2X1 area on his knee.
Does anyone have any more information about this? I can post pictures if that would help, but hate to pay a fortune for the doc to biopsy if its nothing.
Thanks,
Brandy
Hi Brandy,
Pictures would be interesting. Sponge spicules can cause the same kinds of problems, so it may have been a sponge that your husband brushed up against instead of coral. It's probably a local inflammatory reaction to the proteins that are liberated from the foreign object as the body breaks the object(s) down, but it's possible that there is also an infection. It would be worth a visit to an urgent care center to rule that out.
Best regards,
DDM
Pictures would be interesting. Sponge spicules can cause the same kinds of problems, so it may have been a sponge that your husband brushed up against instead of coral. It's probably a local inflammatory reaction to the proteins that are liberated from the foreign object as the body breaks the object(s) down, but it's possible that there is also an infection. It would be worth a visit to an urgent care center to rule that out.
Best regards,
DDM
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