Dr. Pimple Popper

I have a bump on my butt. My third ass, I call it sometimes.

It makes me feel uncomfortable and you know,

shy, embarrassed, because of how big it pokes out.

I'll knock something over with my bump and that's not good, yeah.

(BLEEP)

Oh, my gosh.

I have very dark and chronic dry skin.

It's almost like the way elephant skin looks like.

In the past, you really haven't tried

the things that have been prescribed.

You haven't really given them a chance to work. What have I been doing this whole time?

You keep making jokes about it, Michael, but it's something serious.

It's on your head. Have I got something on my head?

Over the past five years, it's... (EXCLAIMS)

What is going on up there? Can I take a look at it?

Oh, my goodness!

My name's Eric. I'm 46 and live in Wailuku, Maui

and I have a bump on my butt.

My third ass, I call it sometimes.

It's hard and squishy and it's about the size of a breadfruit.

It makes me feel uncomfortable and you know,

shy, embarrassed.

When I sit on the toilet I'm sitting at an angle

and it's pinched in between there.

Then when I'm done using the toilet, it's like, erm,

it's a mission to wipe here.

I had to train my other hand now.

Four years back, I fell down the Wailuku Bridge.

It's a 42 foot concrete staircase.

I fell down head over heels

from face to butt, all the way to the street.

Maybe three months later and when I was in the shower,

I noticed that I had a lump on my butt.

It was the size of a golf ball.

I went to the dermatologist. They said it's not cancer, but it's a lipoma.

She gave me pills and told me it would go away.

Once I took the pills, it like, irritated it or something cos it just got bigger.

I don't really trust doctors. Not here in Hawaii.

After that trying to give you pills. The mainland doctors are better, I think.

So, as I lay down, my condition hinders me, like,

I can only lay on this side.

Like, you know, cos if I want to turn over, I really can't.

I have to get up and like, just jump over to the other side.

Cos it's, like, laying on a rock, you know. I'm parked right here.

I'm not gonna fall over. Yeah.

It's holding me up.

I'm just not as social as I used to be.

Before I had this condition, I was going out and having fun

but now, it's kinda embarrassing.

I feel like a monster, like, I've got a tail or something.

My dating life sucks because I don't want them to see it

and with this thing on my butt, it's just... I don't do anything.

You know, I stay home, I work.

I work in an antique store.

If you walk in that place, it's like a big, huge,

rich people's things thrift store

with, like, stuff everywhere.

There's 29 rooms there.

Hey, Eric, can you help me move this chair? Sure.

We're always constantly moving furniture.

Because how big it pokes out, I'll knock something over with my bump

and things break in the store all the time. And that's not good.

(BLEEP)

Aloha. Sorry.

Eric. Yeah. We gotta be careful around all these items.

A lot of this stuff is expensive. Yeah, I understand.

So, keep that in mind, OK? Eric is a fabulous worker.

He's got a lot of chutzpah,

but he has broken some expensive stuff.

You're kinda like a bull in a china shop.

You know that expression? Yes. You know, just focus, like, when you make a turn.

Keep that in mind, OK? Yeah.

I like working here. It really shows that you care about this job, man.

And I'm really impressed with your art.

Your blacklight art is fabulous. Ultimately I would like to sell my paintings.

In here if I could. I'm open to that.

I'd like to see it on these walls. See what kind of response we get. Yeah.

That'd be great. Yeah, that's cool. Right on.

I've been doing art since I was eight years old.

I would like to be a professional, world-renowned artist.

The art that I mostly do is blacklight realism.

Every painting has three paintings in them. The regular painting,

in the blacklight, like, iridescent

and with no light it glows in the dark and has a full moon.

My ideal profession is I want to be my own boss and I want to sell my art.

If I get this lump removed, I'd probably be out more in public

and be able to do these art shows, do public events and

that's my goal. Just get my name out there.

Eric's here. Hi, Mom. I'm here.

Oh, hi, Eric. Hi. Here you go.

Oh, those for me? Yeah.

Flowers for me? Thank you.

What is this?

They're beautiful.

Here in Hawaii, when I go to my mom's house, I bring her flowers.

It's kind of a tradition over here in Hawaii.

How's work? It's great. He's working me.

Your boss? Yeah. He calls me a bull in a china closet.

Why does he call you that? Because I'm bumping into things

with my third butt, on accident.

Do you break anything? No. (CHUCKLING)

Your one friend tells us that you're in the house all the time, or just working all the time.

How does it make you feel? Are you missing being out in public? I miss going out and being in public

and miss going to all the concerts and shows at the MACC... Yeah.

..and the art shows and swap meets.

I've expressed my concern to my son over and over, and over again.

Believe me, it is affecting him emotionally, physically, socially in all areas of his life.

He's kind of a recluse because he's embarrassed about it.

Do you want kids? I want kids, but, just...

It's hard with that bump on your butt. Yeah.

I've wanted grandchildren for a long time.

I know he wants it too.

I don't want to think about him missing the opportunity, because he'd be a good dad.

I'm worried about it and I want you to be worried enough

that you're gonna take care of it.

I wish I had kids. You know, my parents want grandkids

but my dating life sucks. It does.

Meeting people, it's just very uncomfortable for me.

Could you imagine, you know, "Oh, he's got a tumour."

It's kinda gross if you think about it.

If I get this lump removed, my dating life, I'll probably go up and socialise more.

Go to the beach. Enjoy Maui at its finest, yeah.

It's embarrassing, really, you know.

It gets me right here. I've gotta get rid of it, yeah.

It's been 15 years maybe since I've travelled outside of Hawaii.

It's kind of cold over here and the smog is kind of getting to me a little bit, but...

I'm kind of excited and a little bit nervous.

Doctors told me in the past that it will go away and just nobody's taken care of it.

And hopefully Dr Lee will take care of it today.

Well, go ahead and have a seat

and Dr Lee will be right with you, OK? This chair?

My lump impedes in my daily life by bumping over things.

I'm excited after five years to finally get this removed.

Hello. Hi, how are you?

Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. I'm Dr Lee, welcome.

Eric? Is that right? Yeah.

Where are you coming from? Maui. Hawaii. We brought you the colder weather today, huh?

Well, welcome. Well, what's going on?

I've got a lipoma on my butt.

You know you have a lipoma in fact, really? Yeah.

How long have you had this bump? For about five years now.

You look comfortable. I don't see anything from the get go.

Oh, OK. You have a bedonky-donk,

but only a bedonk, or a donk. Yeah.

Just one? Above. Have you seen any doctors for this?

Yeah, I went and saw a couple and they gave me pills and told me it would go away.

Pills? Yeah. What kind of pills?

Pills where I had to take, like, ten first day and nine the next day. Eight...

Like prednisone? They thought it was some kind of inflammation or something?

Was it really red or irritated? No, it was just a bump. Just a bump? Yeah.

And that didn't do anything. So, you haven't really had anyone offer to remove it? No.

I don't know yet whether I can remove this until I see it,

but it's probably better we go inside to see it,

cos it's cold out here and it is your tush.

OK? All right. So, I will go in and get my girls to come get you.

OK? OK.

It was great meeting Dr Lee for the first time. It was almost like...

she's Hawaiian now. She's got the same attitude and very nice.

OK, Eric, we're all ready for you inside.

She's better looking in person.

So, now that we're inside and it's a little warmer... Yeah.

..let's take a look. You don't have to put a gown on, do you?

Like you... No. OK. Let's take a look and see, let me get my gloves over here.

Sorry.

Oh, my gosh. That's my butt.

That is quite a little... quite a little friend here. You don't have too much of a tush.

Yeah, I know.

But, er, yeah, this looks like a lipoma.

It's got the weight of it. It is big. Yeah.

But I do like the fact that it's not stuck to you.

We see you have extra skin there that's kinda stretched out.

That's the other thing we gotta consider.

But I do think that's something that I could potentially remove. Yay.

It's just it's pretty big.

This bump is really big. It's like the Big Island of butt lipomas.

I mean, if he does the hula, he's gonna do the hula, hula, hula.

The fact that he's thin and sort of sinewy

and has less fat content in the subcutaneous layer,

makes me think that this might pop out fairly easily.

All right. You're gonna go back to just a little crack in your back. Yeah, that's cool. OK?

There you go. Yeah.

So, do you have any questions about it? No.

All right. We're gonna get you set up in our OR, OK? OK.

And get ready to say goodbye to your friend there. Yeah.

Leaving your behind, behind. Yeah. All right. OK. Yeah.

OK, a little baby pinch on the surface of the skin here.

Oh, I'm sorry. (CHUCKLING)

I know it's a little annoying in the beginning when I first start numbing it. It gets a little tight.

In order to numb up this part of Eric's butt, I'm gonna use a tumescent technique.

And this is when I really bathe the area

in fluid that is going to anaesthetise it.

But it will make this area look even bigger.

It's gonna make it look like the Haleakala volcano ready to pop.

All right, let's see what we got here.

Yeah, it's a little lipoma and he's talking to me a little bit.

A buzzing noise, you're gonna hear.

It's a cautery that stops little baby blood vessels from oozing.

Just so we can see things better.

As I go, I'm gonna be really cognisant of any bleeding

and try to really target any blood vessels that I see oozing.