Fear not! But post more pictures, so that I and others can positively ID that plant.
I think you have a Kousa or Japanese Dogwood there (Cornus kousa), but you don't show the foliage, conformation, or anything else besides the trunk and the perceived malformation. If not a Kousa, then that might be one of the hybrid selections with Kousa as one of the parent species like the Rutgers hybrids (Constellation series) or the more recently introduced 'Venus' and 'Starlight'. This characteristic extends to the earlier blooming yellow flowered species of Cornus mas and Cornus officinalis as well.
If I'm correct on the plant ID, then I recommend you learn a little more about your tree. Kousa Dogwoods are best known for their later flowering characteristics (after the leaves have emerged, versus the native Flowering Dogwood Cornus florida which flowers before the leaves emerge), and their larger rounded fruit and range of handsome fall foliage colors. What is less well known is that - with age - the Kousa Dogwood develops exquisite exfoliating bark characters.
If you search for images of older trees, you will find that the puzzle-piece like exfoliation becomes dramatic, showing shades of cream, green, orange, pink, gray, and more possible. My first experience with this fine characteristic was with several old specimens at Longwood Gardens back in the mid '80s. The trees are still there, but upon a recent visit in 2017 I found that the show is masked by the innumerable strings of holiday lights wrapped around them. Too bad.
So: this is not a problem for the tree. I hope that is not a problem for you, as it will increase in extent and complexity as time goes by.
