'My Feet Are Killing Me': Dr Ebonie fixes Ron's 'sea urchin' like feet
Medical conditions often develop with zero warning. You can wake up one day only to have your entire life turned upside down. For some of the patients featured on 'My Feet Are Killing Me', they've lost their seemingly ordinary lives overnight due to medical complications that have cropped up out of the blue, catching them off-guard.
TLC's 'My Feet Are Killing Me' has seen some extreme cases, such as webbed feet, Proteus Syndrome and even potentially cancerous growths. Despite this, doctors always find a way to help their patients. This week, Dr Ebonie helped Ron deal with a longstanding issue that has been a source of extreme discomfort for years.
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For Ron, he has been living with painful tumors on his nails. He noticed small bumps on his toe at the age of 25. While he did get it operated on and biopsied, all the doctors could tell him was that they were non-cancerous. The growth continued, and soon it became a massive problem for Ron. The growths often get caught in his shoes, causing them to rip and bleed.
As he explained to Dr Ebonie, he builds distribution centers, so wearing his work-regulation steel toe boots only aggravates the issue. Dr Ebonie was shocked to hear that he even tried to snip off the growths on his own. As she explained it, his feet looked like 'something from the bottom of the sea', where his nails looked like coral reefs and the tumors resembled 'sea urchins'. Thankfully, Dr Ebonie had both, a diagnosis and a long-term solution. According to her, Ron had Koenen tumors, which as asymptomatic tumors that often look like smooth bumps and destroy the nail plate.
She also pointed out that he had tuberous sclerosis, a rare genetic condition that causes non-cancerous tumors to form on various body parts. In addition to this, he also had fungal toenails, which caused his nails to be thickened and ragged.
Dr Ebonie explained that the best course of action was entirely taking off Ron's nails, which gave her access to the nailbed. After removing the nails, she had was able to take off all the tumors from the root, which was vital. This ensured that they would not grow back. She even applied a chemical solution that would help prevent the nail from growing back entirely. While this surgery did mean that Ron would not have any toenails from here on out, Dr Ebonie explained that she had taken out the nails of countless runners, and it has no bearing on the foot's function. She pointed out that we required toenails as we walked barefoot in the past, but now in modern times, not having toenails was perfectly fine.
Ron's surgery was a success, as Dr Ebonie was able to fish out all of the tumors. During his follow-up appointment, he was happy to report that there had been no growths or pain since, and he was finally able to enjoy walks on the beach with his wife.
Catch all-new episodes of 'My Feet Are Killing Me' on Wednesdays at 10 pm EST on TLC.