Doctors question White House explanation of Trump’s neck rash

Doctors are raising concerns about transparency after the White House described President Trump’s visible neck rash as a routine preventative skin treatment.

Medical experts are questioning the White House’s explanation for a visible rash on President Donald Trump’s neck, which was photographed during a Medal of Honor ceremony on Monday.

In a statement, White House physician Sean Patrick Barbabella said: “President Trump is using a very common cream on the right side of his neck, which is a preventative skin treatment, prescribed by the White House Doctor. The President is using this treatment for one week, and the redness is expected to last for a few weeks.”

Some physicians remain unconvinced. Dr. Vin Gupta suggested the rash could be “pre-cancerous,” criticizing what he described as a lack of transparency. “The White House medical team didn’t know [Trump] got a CT scan. They claimed it was a MRI for weeks,” Gupta wrote, adding: “Now instead of acknowledging he might have a pre-cancerous skin condition, they dance around the issue. Trying to fool the public just makes it worse.”

Dr. Jonathan Reiner also questioned the statement’s wording. “The hint that this statement might not have actually been written by Dr Barbabella is that in it, he says that the medication was ‘prescribed by the White House Doctor’. He’s the WH Doctor,” Reiner wrote. In a separate post, he noted: “Preventative skin treatments (such as topical 5 flurouracil) are commonly used to prevent overt skin cancer in people with precancerous skin lesions… why all the secrecy for something that is potentially easy to treat and very common in older people?”

The White House has previously faced scrutiny over disclosures about the president’s health.