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When Things Go Wrong On 'Naked and Afraid'

— Dr. Mike reacts to medical scenes from the popular TV show

MedpageToday
The YouTube thumbnail with Mikhail Varshavski, DO, a woman lying on a beach, and the words: DOCTOR REACTS I COULD DIE

In this post, Mikhail Varshavski, DO -- who goes by "Dr. Mike" on social media -- reacts to medical scenes from the popular TV show "Naked and Afraid."

Watch the .

Following is a partial transcript of the video (note that errors are possible):

Varshavski: "Naked and Afraid" is a show on Discovery Channel where they literally leave people to survive naked and afraid. Let's check it out. Ooh.

Gary: I just cut my thumb open pretty good.

Varshavski: That's one of the wounds that you don't want to get on your opposable thumb, a very useful tool in nature.

Narrator: In this jungle teeming with bacteria, Gary's open wound could easily get infected.

Varshavski: Oh, tell me he didn't just put it in his mouth. A lot of people think you need hydrogen peroxide or alcohol, or something to clean wounds. You really don't. You just need some clean water or maybe some mild soap to irrigate it. Getting an infection in the hand is so dangerous because it can lead to an osteomyelitis, which is a bone infection, or even a septic arthritis, which is a joint infection. Those require hospitalization and IV antibiotics, not just oral.

Gary: That's a pretty good gash and the only thing I know that could work out here for something like that is the soldier ant that has a big head on it and some jaws. Because what they will do is if they clamp down, they won't let go. If I could find some of those, I could clamp down on there and use them like sutures.

Varshavski: This is one of those things that sounds good in survival textbooks, but I can't imagine practically this is going to work. This guy is performing a science experiment on his wound.

Gary: Rip the body off. Oh, that worked.

Varshavski: I think you're probably better off getting some kind of clean leaf or something and putting pressure on it, and wrapping it, rather than putting ants and infecting the wound further.

Tim: Damn it.

Female Contestant: Are you okay?

Tim: I got bit by something.

Female Contestant: Yeah. That does not look good, Tim.

Varshavski: Ooh, that looks like some kind of venomous bite.

Medic: The typical black pit right in the center of the bite makes me think that it's a violin spider.

Varshavski: Usually, we say recluse spiders that have such small teeth that they can't even really penetrate that deep to really truly give you their poison. But it does enter the first layer of your skin, which can cause a localized irritation.

Tim: It hurt when it first bit me, but everything seems to be okay.

Varshavski: There you go. Look at that. Science is science. Science is science.

LeAnn: My sunburn looks really disgusting right now.

Varshavski: Ow.

Narrator: LeAnn's newly formed fluid-filled blisters provide an extra layer of protection between damaged skin and the sun. But if these blisters rupture, they can expose the body to infection.

Varshavski: And they can expose the body's vulnerable skin to even more sun damage.

LeAnn: Sunburn hurts more than bug bites.

Varshavski: Ooh. God, that's such bad burns.

LeAnn: And my ankles are like super swollen and some bug bites.

Varshavski: Oh my God. There is ankle edema, pedal edema. Oh my God, the skin tissue looks terrible.

LeAnn: I can't take much more of this, ugh.

Varshavski: Yeah, I think they're going to have to pull her out.

LeAnn: The sunburn on that side is...

Varshavski: Honestly, it's like it's going through the dermal layer, it looks like, almost reaching adipose tissue. It's going to speed up her dehydration as well.

Gary: I got a big infection on my back.

Varshavski: Ooh! That is a big infection on his back. I pretty much have no doubt that is a true cellulitis and there could be an abscess in there as well.

Medic: The wound is infected. It has a necrotic region in the center of it. It's dead tissue. Narrator: The medic determines that there is no larva growing under Gary's skin, but the area is severely infected.

Varshavski: What happens is when you get an infection, sometimes your body actually builds up a wall of protection around the infection. But that's actually problematic as that access can continue to grow because of the infection getting worse. While it's not causing a problem at the moment, anytime it would burst it would cause a severe problem and taking antibiotics doesn't even really solve the problem of an abscess. The treatment for an abscess is incision and drainage of said abscess.

Medic: All right.

Gary: [GROANS]

Varshavski: I can't believe they are doing this on the show, my God.

Medic: This is your...

Gary: Holy crap. That's fish bait. That's fish bait.

Varshavski: Wow, this guy is chill for someone that just got a piece of their back cut off. Someone is going to slip and fall.

Female Contestant: Hold on.

Male Contestant: Drop it if you have to.

Female Contestant: No, it can't get wet. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait.

Male Contestant: I got ya. Whoa.

Female Contestant: [SCREAMS]

Male Contestant: All right. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry!

Female Contestant: [SCREAMS] This is the one with the metal plate in it.

Varshavski: What's the one with the metal plate in it? Her clavicle?

Female Contestant: [CRIES] Ow!

Varshavski: Oh, that's really bad. The clavicle is supposed to go from the breast bone here to the acromion, which is at the top of the shoulder, and hers is going up here, much further away from the intended point of the acromion. One of the biggest dangers to this is that that loose bone can actually puncture the lung and cause your lung to collapse.

Male Contestant: Yo.

Female Contestant: Oh my goodness.

Varshavski: What is that?

Female Contestant: That's a huge banana tree.

Varshavski: Oh, it's ... Are those unripe bananas?

Female Contestant: So green. I don't think those are going to be edible.

Varshavski: Unripened bananas are edible. They just have higher starch content, lower simple sugar content, and also less antioxidants.

Male Contestant: I'm going to roast some of these bananas and see if I can make them edible.

Varshavski: These don't look like bananas to me.

Male Contestant: We will still be able to eat it. I mashed them together with some snail and I added a little water.

Female Contestant: It's not bad.

Male Contestant: No, no, it's good.

Varshavski: [LAUGHTER] I love that they convinced themselves. Oh, at least have the decency to throw up a little further away from the sleeping area. It looks like those patties were no bueno. Oh my God!

Male Contestant: You all right?

Varshavski: She is not alright, my guy. You need a medic, stat. She is probably hypotensive.

Mike Varshavski, DO, is a board-certified family physician and social media influencer with more than 10 million subscribers.