One of our readers wrote to us about a worm-like organism she noticed on her son’s foot. She doesn’t know where the creature came from, although she believes the specimen came from inside the house because her son hadn’t been outside for a while. She did mention that they have a dog, so there is a slight possibility that the dog brought the worm in from outside:

She wrote that the worm is very squishy and its body would slowly stretch back out after being squished together. She is worried that it might be some kind of parasite, and so is looking for some peace of mind in the hopes that we can identify it. We can see from the photo that the creature is shiny and dark brown. It looks like it has a distinct head and it might have some tiny antennae or appendanges. Unfortunately due to the color and texture of the worm, we can’t really discern these identifying details.

Based on the photo, we thought this might be a slug or a leech. Both can be brown and appear shiny, like the creature our reader discovered. The specimen probably isn’t a leech because it wasn’t actually attached to her son’s foot and she was able to remove it with ease. It might be a slug, but slugs often have more pronounced appendages. So, we aren’t really sure what this specimen is or where it came from.

We don’t think this creature is parasitic, but since we don’t know exactly what it is, we can’t confirm that it isn’t a parasite with 100% certainty. If our reader’s son has developed a rash where the specimen was, or if he displays any other strange symptoms, then we encourage her to take her son to the doctor. Since we are not medical professionals, we don’t feel comfortable giving medical advice or speculating on the health of our readers (or their family members!)

To sum up, a reader discovered a shiny brown worm on her son’s foot. We don’t believe that the creature is parasitic,but we can’t say that for certain, and we are unfortunately unable to identify it.