Toronto Star: Patients with mysterious skin fibres have long been called delusional. A Canadian researcher wants to change that.
By Abby O’Brien
Staff Reporter, Toronto Star
It begins with the sensation, head to toe, of ants crawling on his skin, followed weeks later by a sudden outburst of lesions across the body.
Then, the fibres – red, black, white, sometimes, even a bright blue or purple metallic shade – start protruding from the wounds.
“It’s like living in a horror movie, but prolonged, not the 90-minute version from Hollywood,” Lance Tycholaz said. Tycholaz’ symptoms began to materialize in 2009, two weeks after he was bitten by a tick.
The symptoms are not a product of Hollywood, but of Morgellons disease, which is, depending on who you ask, is either a skin or psychiatric condition. It’s not a common ailment – there’s only about four cases estimated in every 100,000 people.