Barnacle Dad

My father was never a seafaring man. Yes, he traveled to the South Pacific during World War II in a troop ship, and he could row our rowboat in Treasure Lake, but that was the extent of his watery adventures. So when the dermatologist told me Dad has a barnacle on his back, I thought it was funny--and so did Dad.

The technical name for Dad's unsightly bump is seborrheic keratosis, but it is commonly called a barnacle. Big, ugly, crusty and brown, it stuck out and was visible under his shirt. Yesterday, I took him to the dermatologist who sliced it off quickly and painlessly.

Years ago, when hubby had a boat. He used to put a special paint on the bottom to prevent barnacles--the real ones. Can barnacles be prevented on people? Hmmm?