Need help identifying/fixing growth on Chameleon

[Tysus]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - 5 or 6 year old male Vieled Chameleon
Handling - Never since he became an adult.
Feeding - 2x superworms a day (not loaded). Occasionally we give him the green horn worms which he loves.
Supplements - We stopped dusting after he wouldn't eat the food.
Watering - We have a spritzer that goes off every 2 hours for a minute which gives good coverage to the tank and we hand spray the entire tank twice a day. Never seen him drink.
Fecal Description - No change since we got him, black and semi hard never tested.
History - When he was younger he was easy to handle and like to climb on your fingers but as he's gotten older he can't stand to be touched. He will eat the green horn worms right out of our hands though.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen 24x24x48
Lighting - 1x uvb, 1x heat (10 hours a day) and 1x night light (red)
Temperature - Don't know, warmer than outside cage air.
Humidity - Don't measure anymore as we were fairly consistent keeping it with the green zone of the gauge for so many years.
Plants - We've used a variety of plants off of the approved plant list (my wife changes them once a year).
Placement - Was in the corner of the kitchen. As we've moved he's been outside of the last couple of days (except at night) on the lanai in partial sun/shade area.
Location - Myrtle Beach, SC

Current Problem - I've had my guy for a while and a couple of years ago this bump thing started growing on him. I have no idea what it is. I asked around for help but couldn't find any. After recently discovering this site I thought I would ask for help on here. The bump doesn't seem to bother him but I don't want him to be sick if there's something I can do to help him.

 

[Carlton]

I've never seen anything like that before. Hard to say from your pics, but is the skin over it normal looking? Looks like it is shedding normally. Is the mass hard? Could be a tumor. Without some sort of biopsy who knows what it actually is.

 

[CamoCam]

Reply

It is turning into a shark!

 

[JoeVet]

I'd say its most likely a fibropapilloma or cutaneous horn, generally benign growths of skin, usually of viral origin. Unlikely to be a malignant tumor. Sometimes smaller ones can be skin infection with weeping wounds that form a crust but this is beyond that. Viral lesions can sometimes spread and has been reported around the eyes of chameleons. The only way to confirm is a biopsy. If you elect a biopsy have the whole thing removed. In the mean time if its not bothering him then its not an emergency. At his age I would just monitor it for any changes. Just in case it is viral I would wash hands if handling another chameleon. These are generally species specific so not likely to affect humans. Neat lesion. Love to see it on a slide. Here is a tiny viral papilloma: https://www.chameleonforums.com/george-had-surgery-88480/index7.html