Gross

Just gross.

When Sherrie Walter lost her ear to cancer two years ago, she told herself she'd never be one of those survivors attaching a prosthetic ear every day. "The concept of having to tape something to my skin every day didn't feel like that was who I was," the 42-year-old mother of two told ABC News. "I could just see my kids running around with it, yelling, 'I have mommy's ear!'" But doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore offered Walter a chance at a new ear -- a permanent one built from her own tissue.

The groundbreaking procedure, described as one of the most complicated ear constructions in the U.S., involves removing cartilage from the rib cage to form a new ear, which is then placed under the skin of the forearm to grow.

"It was under my arm for about four months," Walter said. "I just thought I was something from science fiction."

I realize it's a great thing from a medical perspective, and I'm happy she gets a new ear, but one of my very few phobias is dermatophobia -- fear of skin diseases and eruptions. Ringworms, lesions, cysts, etc... Gah! Creeps me right the fuck out. I once cut a wart out of my forehead using an X-Acto knife, sans anesthesia, because I couldn't stand to look at it for one more second. Thought I was going to bleed to death afterwards. It's that bad. So you'll understand why I didn't post the photo of an ear growing out of this lady's arm.

You're welcome. Go to the link if you feel you have to see it. It'll take me half a bottle of Hennessy to get the image out of my mind.

Gah.