I agree..if she's old enough to start strutting around in a bikini, I'm sure she's had some kind of physical exam in her life. If she's had the fungus growing her WHOLE LIFE, either another doctor would have noticed, or this new doctor doesn't know what he's talking about

^^^Agree. Is this doctor new to the field by any chance? =

thats what i'm saying. how could you not notice its a fungus, and how could your doctors not?

Exactly. Second opinion?

Same way none of my doctors ever noticed I had a partial cleft pallet until I was...like, 11, 12 years old, even though most if not all had been looking in my mouth at some point or another. They just fail at being doctors -shrugs-

OMG!!

I agree

Maybe she got Dr. House.

I think I know what she's talking about as well and it does look similar to a birthmark. And also, she said she had basically been hiding it for years. So maybe she never really looked at it close enough. I have a scar on my arm that I never look at because I constantly try and hide it since I hate it. If she never really looked at it and if the growth was extremely slow, it is possible, if not improbable, that she never noticed it. If her other doctors asked her about it, she told them it was just a birthmark and usually the patient knows more about things like birthmarks than the doctor so the doctors probably just trusted her.

Dermatology is not a very simple area so unless a doctor had a particular interest in that area it may be difficult for them to notice without close examination.

#58 WINS

58 FTW!

Agreed. Physical examinations are with general doctors, who commonly know little about dermatology. They probably didn't even look at it closely in consideration of the OP's feelings. I mean if you were at the pool and saw the OP in the bikini and saw this fungus you wouldn't come up and ask what's wrong with her side or start examining it. You ignore it to respect the person's feelings. FYL OP.

THAT'S SOOOO MUCH COOLER THAN MY BIRTHMARK!!!

ROFL. Best thing I've seen so far!!!

#29, There's that Obaobama again...

No doctor noticed I had a hole in my heart until I was 18, so I can believe not spotting this either.

If you're in Australia, physical exams for no reason are very uncommon.

i think itz strange too that a doctor noticed it.....but YDI for confounding a fungus with a birthmark

a hole in your heart's a little different that's not discovered unless you get a catscan or whatever a fungus growing on your side, even if it grows slowly and looks like a birthmark and is mostly hidden, should still be noticed by a doctor

I'm going to reply to the first post to get my comment on the top, even though my comment has nothing to do with the first one!

agreed. i call bs

But they could hear it my whole life, they just never bothered to investigate what was making the weird noise

At least we know it's not lupus.

I agree I have this friend that went on vacation and he got this fungus that you could BARELY see and no one noticed it but his dad being a doctor told him about it as soon as he got home, I guess some can just spot it better than others. (It was on his arm if anyone cares)

it's never lupus

I have bilateral cleft lip and palate. It sucks.. but your doctor has to be stupid not to realize that.

I've seen babies in bikinis. She could be 8. You need sports physicals when you're 8. But I seriously doubt that this doctor is telling the truth, because if no other doctor said anything about it, it's probably not fungus and he wants to make more money off of her.

It's never lupus! :)

#123 I agree, I was confused. what is a physical examination exactly? I've never had my doctor ask to see under my shirt... unless she had another condition why would he be looking there? Or is that common in the US? seems a bit weird to me.

BEST COMMENT EVER YOU WIN AT LIFE

its not even that bad to have a birthmark... i have pectus excavatus and thats 10000x worse -.-

*disgusting