A grandmother-of-one has her ‘clown’ nose cyst that ‘glows like a beacon’ popped during a stomach-churning procedure in The Bad Skin Clinic.
In tonight’s episode of the Quest Red show, Jo, from the UK, reveals that for the past four years, she has been living with a large, throbbing bump on the end of her nose which has caused her nothing but trouble.
‘I have a sebaceous cyst on the end of my nose, it’s about the size of a large marble,’ explains Jo, who has previously had it diagnosed by her GP. ‘But to me it feels like I’ve got something like a tennis ball on the end of my nose.’
She admits: ‘It does make me feel unattractive. My worst nightmare is that it pops and gets infected.’
In tonight’s episode of the Quest Red show, Jo, from the UK, reveals that for the past four years, she has been living with a large, throbbing bump on the end of her nose (pictured)
Jo reveals how her nose cyst has stopped her doing the things she enjoys, such as taking her two-year-old granddaughter Rosie to the park. Pictured, looking at her new nose for the first time
More than anything, Jo struggles with the bump’s unsightly appearance, admitting that it’s off-putting to look at and has affected her confidence immeasurably.
‘I can see red veins going through it,’ she says. ‘I think it glows like a beacon!’
Opening up, Jo also reveals how her nose cyst has stopped her doing the things she enjoys, such as taking her two-year-old granddaughter Rosie to the park.
‘If I’d never had it I’d be enjoying my life a lot more, I feel like an 80-year-old’ she admits. ‘I don’t go anywhere and I don’t do anything.’
‘I’d love to take Rosie to the park, to the play barns, but I don’t. I sit in the house and play with her. She’s my world and I just want to be a proper granny.’
Jo’s husband Steve also acknowledges that he has seen a change in his wife since the cyst first sprouted four years ago.
‘I think Jo’s gorgeous, but I don’t think she sees the same thing when she looks in the mirror,’ he says. ‘I feel that Jo’s locking herself away.’
Reflecting on how much the lump has affected her marriage, Jo reveals how unattractive the bump makes her feel.
‘I sometimes look at Steve and think “I don’t know why you’re with me,” she says. ‘I just want this nightmare to come to an end.’
Hoping to regain control of her life, Jo books herself in for an appointment with dermatological surgeon Dr Emma Craythorne at her 152 Harley Street clinic.
‘I went to my GP and they told me it was a sebaceous cyst,’ Jo explains to the expert. ‘I’ve usually got what they call a roman nose, and it’s totally changed shaped.’
Examining Jo’s face, Dr Emma offers her thoughts.
‘From where I’m sitting your nose looks pretty straight, but it looks like you have a slight upturn to the nose. It looks quite cute, she says.
But for Jo, the lump is anything but cute.
‘To me it feels like a big clown nose, it’s really affected my confidence,’ she admits.
Getting up close to Jo’s cyst, Dr Emma notices just how much of an angle the lump adds to Jo’s nose.
‘It’s almost like a little ski slope heading up,’ Dr Emma says. ‘It’s a bit redder and it’s definitely softer at the very end of it. It feels like there is a very well-defined cyst in there.’
As Dr Emma explains, sebaceous cysts are a gathering of keratin inside a balloon-like sack.
‘My plan is to make an incision down the middle of it, take out a bit of the extra skin that’s there, because the skin has had a chance to stretch and she doesn’t really want loose skin over the nose,’ she says. ‘Then we’ll pop it out and then suture this area up again.’
After numbing Jo’s nose with an local anaesthetic, Dr Emma makes her initial incision, exposing the cyst wall.
Jo, who previously had the lump diagnosed as a sebaceous cyst, says it’s ‘about the size of a large marble.’ Pictured, getting it removed by Dr Emma
Jo struggles with the bump’s unsightly appearance, admitting that it’s off-putting to look at and has affected her confidence immeasurably. Pictured, Dr Emma treating Jo’s cyst
‘We’re just working our way around to see what’s in here,’ she explains, walking Jo through each step of the procedure. ‘I can see the cyst wall and the wall is under quite a lot of tension, which is why you can see the skin starting to stretch on the surface.’
Digging even deeper into Jo’s nose, Dr Emma ruptures the cyst wall, releasing a four-year build-up of putrid pus.
‘There we go, it’s already popped,’ she says. ‘A very delicate little cyst wall.’
With the cyst popped, it’s a chance for the expert to squeeze the gooey, white content out from Jo’s nose and relieve the tension around the area.
Squeezing firmly, the cyst’s contents wriggles out like a worm, much to Emma’s delight.
‘Ha, love it!’ Dr Emma says gleefully, while nurse Mottie adds: ‘Mmm, oozy!’
Following the procedure, Jo looks at her nose like an old friend, relieved to see it looking back to normal. Pictured, left before, and right, after
Removing the cyst sack entirely, Dr Emma is amazed by its clean, shiny colour.
‘Have you ever seen one quite as white and shiny as that?’ she asks. ‘It’s pretty lovely, it looks like a tooth it’s so white!’
With the cyst gone, all that’s left for Dr Emma to do is to stitch up Jo’s nose, which she does expertly.
‘You can see that the shape of your nose has just come back,’ Mottie says to Jo, who can’t wait to have a look herself.
With a mirror in hand, Jo looks at her nose like an old friend, relieved to see it looking back to normal.
‘God, you can see the shape now, can’t you?’ she says. ‘That’s great, thank you very much! It’s absolutely what I was hoping for. I’ve got my roman nose back.’
Leaving the clinic, Jo is full of beans, feeling ready to take on the world again.
She adds: ‘I am absolutely delighted that I came to see Dr Emma, she’s done an amazing job on my nose. I’m just looking forward to going out!’
The brand new series of The Bad Skin Clinic continues tonight at 10pm on Quest Red, available to stream on dplay