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.
“It got to the point where I was wondering if I should wear a hat in the car. I was so paranoid.”
Australia is the number one country in the world for skin cancer — and Ms Cook is sharing her story as she believes sometimes Aussies can be a bit blasé about it. Around 2000 Australians die from skin cancer every year.
She is advocating for everyone to be more vigilant about sun safety and skin checks — even in the midst of winter. She also called for more bulk billing skin check clinics to be available.
Doctor Ludi Ge, a dermatologist at Moshy, said that all-year round skin protection is important.
“In winter UV levels can reach 3 or higher, which is sufficient to cause skin damage and photo ageing, while the cumulative effect of daily exposure, even in cooler months, increases the risk of skin cancer,” said Dr Ge.
“People often associate sunburn with heat, but UV rays penetrate clouds and can harm the skin regardless of temperature, even when driving in the car.”
“Skin cancers can appear in different forms including lesions like a mole or scab that won’t heal, bleeding on light contact, changes in size and colour and flat moles that become raised or develop an irregular edge.”
