# Part of me fell off today (possible TMI) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 6, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663 "2011-03-06T05:08:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/1 "2011-03-06T05:08:45Z")
Well, not my man parts, thank heaven. More than 20 years ago, I was struck on the head with a bottle during a failed mugging attempt. As a souvenir, ever since then there has been a small lump, I assume to be a cyst of some kind, on the top left front of my skull. It was never painful, and didn’t seem to change size or evolve in any way, so I just ignored it. I did mention it once to a doctor during an examination; he give it a quick look and saw nothing worth treatment or removal. About a month ago, the lump began to change. It seemed a little swollen and, well, looser. I had pretty much resolved to see a doctor about it next week. Then today I went in to get a haircut. The nice young goth lady at the haircutting parlor picked up a comb and swept it through my hair, snagging the lump on the first try. “Oh.” she said. she started snipping around, then gasped and said, “Oh my God, your’re bleeding!” I looked in the mirror and sure enough, I was; in fact, it was running in a narrow stream down my face. Someone brought some paper towels and alcohol swabs and I began to dab away the blood. After a few minutes the bleeding stopped and the poor haircutter began to gingerly work around the area of the injury. Then there was another gasp. “Er, something just came off”. I reached up with my bloodied paper towel and sure enough, there, laying loose on the top of my head, was a fleshy…thing about the size of the nail on my little finger. I patted around on the top of my head and yep, the lump was gone. To her credit, the no doubt traumatized haircutter finished the job, with both of us apologizing profusely to each other for the drama. The manager had me fill out an incident form, then sort of hustled me out of the joint. I didn’t think to grab the, uh, lump on the way out. So, I’m baffled why something like that would ride for twenty years then all of a sudden fall off. I’m still going to see a doctor anyway, but what can I show them? “Well, I had a lump here, but now I don’t.” Anyway, that’s one way to get a free haircut, how was your day? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/2 "2011-03-06T05:29:29Z")
Now I know where your username came from. ---
**Author:** ![loshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce73a5/32.png) [@loshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/loshan)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/3 "2011-03-06T05:38:36Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Anyway, that’s one way to get a free haircut, how was your day? SOOOOooo, can I use this as a sig? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/4 "2011-03-06T05:40:50Z")
> [@loshan](#): > > SOOOOooo, can I use this as a sig? Go for it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/5 "2011-03-06T05:41:56Z")
I am not a doctor, but it’s my understanding that when you get a small foreign object (like a bb or a splinter) implanted inside you, your body forms a cyst around the object and then slowly squeezes the cyst out through your skin. So maybe back when you got hit on the head with that bottle, it drove a small shard of glass into your scalp. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/6 "2011-03-06T05:44:17Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I am not a doctor, but it’s my understanding that when you get a small foreign object (like a bb or a splinter) implanted inside you, your body forms a cyst around the object and then slowly squeezes the cyst out through your skin. So maybe back when you got hit on the head with that bottle, it drove a small shard of glass into your scalp. A fair point, but the bottle was plastic (a half-full 2-liter bottle of Pepsi, to be precise) and didn’t shatter. ---
**Author:** ![loshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce73a5/32.png) [@loshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/loshan)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/7 "2011-03-06T05:55:33Z")
Thanks El Kabob. It’s a great tag line, even if it involved bleedin from the head in a public forum. I had a knot on my knee that did the same when I was around 15. I had bashed it on a rock when I was six or seven. I put pressure on it with a box from the garage and it started hurting. Later that night, I woke up with a puddle of blood and a piece of (skin/cellular type) tissue on the sheet by my knee. My mom put it in a styrofoam cup with ice and took me to the ER (:D:cool::eek:) They told me "surface cyst with small blood supply, got cut off from blood and “fell off”. I have nothing to say about their accuracy. They were speaking to a 15 YO and I’m not sure how accurate my memory is/was. ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/8 "2011-03-06T22:24:01Z")
Where’s all the zit thread fans? They’re usually all over stuff like this demanding pictures and talking about bits of their own that fell off. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/9 "2011-03-06T23:14:49Z")
uh…pix, please. I have a knot on my head from an auto accident several weeks ago. I’m afraid there is glass in there but so far, I got nuthin. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/10 "2011-03-06T23:19:48Z")
> [@ugly ripe tomato](#): > > Where’s all the zit thread fans? They’re usually all over stuff like this demanding pictures and talking about bits of their own that fell off. I don’t think we have that many lepers here. ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/11 "2011-03-07T01:33:35Z")
Wellllll, drops off isn’t exactly correct, more like bursts or oozes or squirts :eek: I’ve read my share of message boards but I’ve never seen a [zit thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=106449&highlight=motherlode+pore&page=1) go for 8 pages, last 4 years, and get close to 85000 views. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/12 "2011-03-07T01:46:51Z")
> [@Ruby](#): > > uh…pix, please. > > I have a knot on my head from an auto accident several weeks ago. I’m afraid there is glass in there but so far, I got nuthin. Sorry, never got any, but here’s a Wiki link that shows something very similar to what came off my head yesterday: > **[Trichilemmal cyst](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilar_cyst)** > > A trichilemmal cyst (or pilar cyst) is a common cyst that forms from a hair follicle, most often on the scalp, and is smooth, mobile, and filled with keratin, a protein component found in hair, nails, skin, and horns. Trichilemmal cysts are clinically and histologically distinct from trichilemmal horns, hard tissue that is much rarer and not limited to the scalp. Rarely, these cysts may grow more extensively and form rapidly multiplying trichilemmal tumors, also called proliferating trichilemm I believe this may have been the culprit. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/13 "2011-03-07T04:16:35Z")
Oh, the zit thread! I have that one bookmarked. I reread it every couple of years or so. Good times, good times. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/14 "2011-03-07T11:33:25Z")
When are we going to have another good zit thread? I miss them, it seemed like they used to be fairly regular … ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/15 "2011-03-07T14:45:15Z")
> [@loshan](#): > > Thanks El Kabob. No no, the mugger didn’t try to skewer him. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/16 "2011-03-07T14:47:53Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > When are we going to have another good zit thread? I miss them, it seemed like they used to be fairly regular … The SDMB must be out of our adolescence. They’ll still pop up once in a while, but nothing like as frequently as they used to. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/17 "2011-03-07T16:47:18Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > A fair point, but the bottle was plastic (a half-full 2-liter bottle of Pepsi, to be precise) and didn’t shatter. Lamest mugger ever. ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/18 "2011-03-07T17:31:42Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > The SDMB must be out of our adolescence. They’ll still pop up once in a while, but nothing like as frequently as they used to. 😉 😛 One thing for sure is **El Kabong’s** hairdresser will win any “worst day at work” conversations she gets into for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/19 "2011-03-07T17:52:59Z")
1. Gross but cool! 2. When I went to get a haircut shortly after I got a new cartilage piercing, I warned the salon chick to please be careful because I had a new piercing. Well what do you know, the first thing she did was rip a goddamn comb over that ear. I ended up getting a keratin bump (or whatever it’s called) and lost the piercing. Bitch. I should have waited I guess, but it would have taken 8 weeks to heal and I really needed the cut then. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663/20 "2011-03-07T17:58:46Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > To her credit, the no doubt traumatized haircutter finished the job, with both of us apologizing profusely to each other for the drama. The manager had me fill out an incident form, then sort of hustled me out of the joint. I didn’t think to grab the, uh, lump on the way out. So if you do go back, and she asks “how do you want it… same as last time?” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-of-me-fell-off-today-possible-tmi/573663.md?page=2)