The One Thing That Makes Dr. Mercy Squeamish - Exclusive
It's one thing to watch those eye-catching medical shows; it's a totally different thing to be the one leading them. If you're a fan of series like "Dr. Pimple Popper" that demonstrate — in excruciating detail — the ins and outs of extreme dermatological cases, you're going to love TLC's newest show "Dr. Mercy." It follows Dr. Mercy Odueyungbo, a Chicago-based board-certified dermatologist who specializes in malignant growths, benign lesions, Mohs surgery for skin cancers, and more (via the Baraga County Memorial Hospital). But audiences aren't the only ones that get squeamish when it comes to oversized growths and intrusive moles. As it turns out, Dr. Mercy herself gets pretty weirded out from time to time about it, too.
The List sat down with Dr. Mercy for an exclusive interview to talk all about her dermatological practice, her experience with TLC, and what we can expect from the first season. But with a job like hers, we couldn't help but ask about some of the gory details — and you're going to want to keep reading to see what Dr. Mercy deems too much to stomach.
Dr. Mercy doesn't mind when growths are in the body — but outside is a different story
According to Dr. Mercy, because of the nature of her job, everyone thinks she's totally desensitized to some of the gorier details of her work. But this couldn't be further from the truth. In an exclusive interview with The List, she explained, "Most people think, because we remove all these things, I don't get sick from it," Mercy said.
She explained that she isn't bothered by things in the body; it's when they're outside of the body that she begins to feel sick. "As long as it's inside the patient's body, I'm okay. When it comes out I'm okay. But it has to leave the room. I don't know how to explain it. Just knowing it's there and smelling it, that gets me," she said, adding that in one of the season's episodes, she runs to the bathroom to throw up after an extraction. But Dr. Mercy says that this isn't where the squeamish-ness ends, and, in fact, things tend to get worse when patients make this specific, bizarre request.
Some of her patients make this bizarre request
Some of Dr. Mercy's patients have been living with tumors, moles, and growths for most of their lives. As a result, some of them feel connected to the growths in one way or another and even struggle to part with them. According to Dr. Mercy, many of her patients even request to keep the cysts/growths after surgeries removing them. In fact, it was one of these patient's requests that led to her throwing up after surgery. "It was a patient in particular that wanted to take her cyst home and was playing with it and rubbing it and shaking it and bouncing it," Dr. Mercy recalled. "By the time she did all of that, that really did me."
While it's not a super common request, it has certainly happened more than once. "Most people want to see it. Most people will name it, but it's really rare to meet someone that wants to keep it or play with it," Mercy explained. She added that she even let the patient take the cyst home, and that she planned on putting in a jar to sit on her bedroom mantle.
"Dr. Mercy" airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on TLC.