Trump’s mysterious neck rash may stem from his love of the putting green.
The rash on 79-year-old President Donald Trump was first spotted on Monday, two days after Trump announced strikes against Iran. Immediately, there was a flurry of speculation about the large mark on the right side of the president’s neck. According to board-certified dermatologist and dermatologic surgeon Dr. Dustin Portela, the mark could be caused by Trump’s frequent golfing under the bright sun.
Portela told the Daily Beast that the redness and flakiness of the nasty rash are “characteristic” of a chemotherapy cream that prevents the progression of precancerous lesions or actinic keratosis into a more serious case of skin cancer.
“This is a type of cream that I use frequently in my patients, my older patients, who are golfers, who are boaters, who are just very active outside,” Portela said.
Trump first sported the flaking, bright red rash while attending a ceremony at the White House. It’s the latest medical condition in a series of ailments the aging President has been suffering from publicly, including his bruised hands and swollen ankles.
“He is the picture-perfect case of a very fair-skinned, light-haired individual who spends a lot of time outside, who’s at high risk for getting skin cancer,” Portela told The Beast.
And Trump is outside quite a bit. The president spent 97 days of his second term playing golf, according to the Trump Golf Tracker. That accounts for 23.7% of his time in office since his Jan. 2025 inauguration.
Since 2026 began—and during which time two American citizens were killed by federal immigration agents, the U.S. launched a covert mission to depose Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, and the president waged an unauthorized war on Iran—the president has already golfed a reported 10 times.
Portella believes Trump’s neck may have been treated with some combination of vitamin D and 5-Fluorouracil cream, one of the most common medicines for skin cancer and pre-cancerous lesions.
“I’ve seen this kind of reaction hundreds, if not thousands of times, on my patients,” Portella added.
Trump’s physicians, for their part, have been vague about what caused the rash.
In a statement to the Daily Beast, Trump’s physician, Dr. Sean P. Barbabella, repeated a previous statement.
“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,” Barbabella said. Barbabella stated that the treatment will last for one week, with redness visible for a few weeks after that.
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast that Barbabella addressed the rash on Monday. Ingle, 31, is a communications graduate of Florida’s Southeastern University, where his father, Kent Ingle, is president. SEU boasts that more than two-thirds of its students attend online or through extension courses at 200 “partner sites,” which do not have to be accredited.
Ingle added, “These are false and slanderous allegations from so-called reporters who are unethically speculating on health matters that they have no insight into.”
Dr. Vin Gupta, a medical analyst for MS NOW, and Dr. Jonathan Reiner, cardiologist to the late former Vice President Dick Cheney, both questioned the White House’s secrecy around the matter.
Like Portella, Reiner also theorized that the treatment could be caused by the topical medication 5-Fluorouracil, which Reiner said is “commonly used to prevent overt skin cancer with precancerous skin lesions.”
“We don’t know what specific treatment the president is receiving, but why all the secrecy for something that is potentially easy to treat and very common in older people?” asked Reiner.
The president’s health has been the subject of extensive scrutiny throughout his second term, as the Daily Beast has covered.
Beyond repeatedly falling asleep on the job and several obvious mental gaffes, Trump’s physical health has also taken visibily declined.
Last summer, cameras captured Trump’s pronounced swelling around his ankles, which spurred the White House to admit he suffers from chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), better known as cankles.
He’s appeared to have a dark bruise on his hand since Feb. 2025, which has often been covered up since with a slathering of mismatched foundation. The White House said it was caused by giving too many handshakes.
“President Trump is a man of the people, and he meets more Americans and shakes their hands on a daily basis than any other president in history,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
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