Walking barefoot anywhere in public is a big no-no. It’s incredibly unsanitary and you never know what’s actually on the ground that you’re stepping on. Unfortunately, one man thought just this one time would be ok. He was terribly wrong. A man who wishes to remain unnamed took a shower barefoot at his local gym. Doing so, however, gave him a wart that slowly developed into a flesh-eating infection. The infection got so bad that he had to use fish scales to heal the wounds.One man in Texas decided to shower barefoot at the gym and instantly regretted it when he caught a flesh-eating infection.
The man originally grew a singular wart that eventually grew into five warts spread across his foot and creating open wounds.
He has now went through skin graft surgery, mainly using fish scales. After his journey, he decided to share his story to warn others from making the same mistake he did.
He was a listener to the Rod Ryan Show on KTBZ-FM The Buzz, when he decided to anonymously send in an email sharing pictures of why everyone should wear shoes in public showers.
At the time of the incident, the unnamed man was training for a marathon at his local gym. He would usually train during his lunch breaks.
“There were a few occasions where I left out my flip flops that I would use when I showered, but not wanting to go back to work sweaty and smelly I made the decision to shower barefoot,” he said.
It wasn’t long until the man realized there was a spot on the bottom of his left foot that was harder than the rest of his skin. He was informed that the spot was a plantar wart — a benign foot tumor that’s usually caused by human papillomavirus (HPV).
The man tried every online remedy he could find. He tried banana peels, duct tape, vinegar, and over-the-counter acid treatments but had no success. He finally saw a doctor six months later, who treated the wart with cantharidin.
The cantharidin works by getting the body to recognize that it’s trying to fight an infection. The doctor would remove the blistered skin every week and apply the ointment onto the fresh skin.
However, the treatments weren’t working as the one wart soon transformed into five.
“My entire foot would swell and the pain was so bad, I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t even put my leg down as the blood rushing to my foot would cause the skin to swell and put me in excruciating pain.”
Before the wounds began closing up, he had a skin graft trial that used grafts made out of North Atlantic Cod.
The man finally decided to undergo surgery in February 2017, after many months of agonizing pain.
It has now been two months since he’s had the surgery. He still needs a minimum of one month to recover until he can walk properly.
“Do yourself a favor, wear shoes in any public area where there is water. This virus thrives in those areas,” said the man. “The scary thing is, the virus can live for over two years on the surfaces as well. Take care of your feet so they can take care of you.”
Maria Ines Candido da Silva is another individual who had to use fish skin to heal her wounds. She had severe burns on both her neck and arms from a gas canister explosion.
According to experts, this was supposedly the first time fish skin was ever used to treat a burn victim.
Here’s a photo her Miss da Silva with her arm covered in fish skin. Fifty patients received the first trials this month by Brazilian doctors.
Over a 20 day period, her hand’s fish skin grafts were replaced multiple times.
The skin grafts had to be replaced so many times in order to restore all of the damaged tissue.
Here’s another photo of a leg that’s wrapped in Tilapia freshwater fish skin after it received the treatment.
This is what her leg looked like healed after the Tilapia skin was finally removed.
As for her left hand, the doctors left the fish skin on longer since the wounds were deeper.
According to researchers, using the skin of tilapia to heal wounds may be a more effective and safer form of collagen.
Because Tilapia is a common fish resistant to human diseases, it was chosen to be the first aquatic species for burn treatment.
