Dermatologist Repulsed by Teenager’s Zit

BEVERLY HILLS — A popular dermatologist was repulsed by a particularly gross looking acne blemish on the face of one of his teenage patients.

BEVERLY HILLS — A popular dermatologist was repulsed by a particularly gross looking acne blemish on the face of one of his teenage patients.

Dr. Miles Barnhard had been treating 16-year-old Timothy Murfelt for over a year for acute acne.  On the latest visit, however, the doctor noticed something on the young man’s cheek that was so vile it made his stomach churn.

“It was, like, all large and bluish-purple,” said Barnhard. “I think there was something oozing from it.”

Barnhard later described it as “the grossest thing I’d ever seen.”  He found the teenager’s pimple so repugnant, he had to excuse himself three times in the middle of the examination. On the third time, he went into the men’s room and vomited.

He told Emily Murfelt that he will no longer be able to treat her son. “His acne hasn’t cleared up,” he explained, “and his skin is far too hideous for me to work on.”

Incensed, Mrs. Murfelt told the doctor she wanted a second opinion. “Fine,” replied Barnhard. “I don’t want to look at him while I’m eating, either.”

The young Murfelt was devastated by his doctor’s reaction. On the way out, his mother gave him a comforting hug and told him she would buy him “lots of chocolate, pizza, and dairy products” to cheer him up.

Barnhard noted that in his thirty years in practice, he has seen “every kind of zit imaginable.”

“Maybe it’s the fact that I’m getting older,” he added, “but they’re not getting any prettier.

Braddon Mendelson