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A mum has revealed how what she thought was an innocent pimple led to her getting a chunk of her ear cut out.
Rebecca Cook, 46, had always been vigilant about sun safety — particularly as a mum to two children.
“I’ve got two kids who are in Nippers, so we were always wearing hats, sunscreen and long sleeve shirts. I’ve been pretty regular with my skin checks,” she said.
But two years ago she discovered what she thought was a small, white pimple when she was pulling her hair back. She asked a friend to have a look. Her friend was suspicious and so she went to the GP.
Immediately, her doctor realised it was a basal cell carcinoma (BCC), which is a type of skin cancer. Ms Cook was sent to a plastic surgeon, and it was surgically removed. Doctors used a skin graft, taken from behind her ear, to repair the chunk that was pulled out.
It was described as a “very nasty” form of BCC. It took a month to recover.
“I was freaking out because there was a chunk out of my ear, so I rang the surgeon freaking out,” she said.
But it healed and barely left a scar.
“When I went back for the results, it turned out it wasn’t an ordinary BCC but an infiltrative BCC,” she said.
This meant every three months she needed to get checked because the possibility of needing radiotherapy was very real. This lasted for a year.
Last week, she got the official all clear. A spot had appeared on her nose, but a biopsy labelled it all clear.
“I’m so vigilant now, I carry sunscreen in my car,” she said, pointing out the ear she’d found the cancer in was on her driver’s side window.