The Mango Fly

It started as a tiny itch in front of his right ear. No big deal. Who doesn't itch in this hot, dry place? But then it looked like a small pimple.And it didn't go away. Gradually it got bigger. After a few weeks it looked like a hard lump on the side of his face. Not inflamed, not dark. Just a lump. Sometimes itchy, occasionally painful.


Paul has had growths like this before, and they turned out to be fly pods. There are mango flies (tumbu flies) here in this part of Africa that lays eggs on clothes drying outside. The eggs then burrow into skin when it comes in contact with the cloth. They pupate in the skin and then crawl out when they are done. (eeeew!) Or they die when you apply Vaseline and tape for a few days. Then they dry up and fall off.

Ironing everything that comes in contact with your skin or 10 minutes in the dryer kills the eggs. But in spite of our taking care, Paul has had a few fly pods develop.

However, this one was different. There was no drying up. In fact, there was no change after several months. Bathroom surgery to remove the offending resident didn't help. It just made a black scab on the lump, which didn't get any better. What to do??

I emailed a dermatologist who had worked in Africa for many years, and included a picture of the bump in question. Diagnosis – mango fly.


So, since the fly was making no move to exit by itself we made an appointment to see the surgeon in Ekwendeni. (a mission hospital 25 minutes from here). She is from Holland and is here for 5 years. She looked at it and was glad to remove it. The appointment was made for the next week. On the day of the appointment the O.R. schedule had become so crowded that surgery was postponed another week and a short-term visiting surgeon from Holland was recruited to to do the job.


On the morning of surgery Paul was “prepped” by having his blood pressure taken. Then he had to remove ALL his clothes and wrap in a sheet. He reminded them that this was on his face, but the staff was insistent. He then had to take off his glasses, and walk outside around the building to the operating theater. Here he lay on the table and the surgeon took off the fly pod. It took 15 minutes, and since the doctor had done plastic surgery, it was a small and neat incision.


After surgery, Paul had to walk back outside around the building again, to the dressing room where he could dress and retrieve his glasses. No one had even asked him how he felt or taken his blood pressure after the procedure As we were getting ready to leave, a worker wanted to know why Paul wasn't headed to the recovery room. I guess you have to walk there, too. No one had said anything about a recovery room. Since he had only had a local anesthetic he felt he didn't need to recover, so we passed on the offer.


Instead, we went to billing to settle up. Total cost for surgery....$32.00. And by a plastic surgeon! You can hardly see the healing incision line after a week.


We will travel with our own pillow cases from now, which we know have been in the dryer or have been ironed. You never know what hitchhikers you will pick along the way.