Embarrassing Bodies

This week’s episode starts with 8-year-old Charlotte from Suffolk who’s been suffering from sore verrucas on her feet for over 2 years. Dr Christian sends Charlotte for tests to check her immune system and try and find out why the virus is winning. The tests reveal that her immune system is unable to fight the virus and so the usual treatment for verrucas will not do the job. Whilst a formaldehyde treatment produces some encouraging results, further immunology test reveal that she’s missing certain lymphocytes and the possible treatment course includes a bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy. +++UPDATE+++ Charlotte’s operation to remove the verrucas from her foot appears to have been successful and her foot is healing really well. She’s back on her bike and back to being a normal child, pending a potential bone marrow transplant. The EB bus heads to Southend, where Dr Priya has a patient with case of cold feet, medically known as Chilblains. Dr Pixie’s patient can’t stop scratching her itchy sores while Dr Christian has a customer with a permanent runny nose due to nasal polyps. Next up is a visit to the dentist for 27-year-old Lyn from Aberdeen. Lyn arrived to see Dr James because she has an addiction to fizzy drinks that has left her with missing, rotting and discoloured teeth. After extracting the rotten teeth, Dr James recommends implants, but only if Lyn will give up smoking, as it drastically reduces the success rate of the procedure. After a long day in the dental hot seat, Lyn has a new set of pearly whites. Visiting the clinic next is David, 24, from Shropshire who’s had an embarrassing swelling for more than half his life. None of the treatments and tests have been able to ease his enlarged sore lips. Dr Pixie suggests that the swelling is a possible sign of an allergic reaction. Tests reveal that David is allergic to cinnamon and a long list of preservatives; so he sets off in search of a new diet. The doctors head to a very windy Southend-on-Sea to meet with a group of kids and their parents at Fairways primary school. Dr Pixie talks to the kids about head lice and shows them up close just how nasty they can be, whilst Dr James teaches the kids a lesson about tooth decay. Read Dr James’ guide to How to Look After Your Teeth > Maria, 13, believed she had a case of head lice, but it turned out to be much more serious. Maria actually has scalp psoriasis that causes her scalp to scale and nothing she’s tried has helped. Dr Pixie sends Maria to a hair specialist to get the scaling and inflammation under control with the help of creams and steamers. After three visits to the hair specialist Maria comes back to the clinic and shows Dr Pixie her much improved scalp. Ever since 43-year-old Sandra from Derby gave birth she’s developed a rather messy problem. Sandra experiences problems with her bottom – it bleeds and causes problems for her hygiene. Dr Pixie diagnoses Sandra with skin tags and sends her to a specialist to try a surgical procedure to clear up her problem. Tests show Sandra’s problem goes deeper than just the skin tags – she’s suffering from a case of rectacil, where her bowel is misshapen. Sandra will have to complete more tests, but pelvic floor exercises have been recommended to help her cause.