A tan-loving mum has been left with a golf ball-sized hole and 'Frankenstein' stitching on her face after what she thought was a tiny bump turned out to be cancer.
Misty Ovens was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer, last month but was left in shock when she saw the results of the surgery to remove it.
The mum-of-three said she used sunbeds an average of once a week for 10 years during her youth but became far more vigilant at protecting her skin following a life-changing breast cancer diagnosis in 2011.
Misty, 44, is now keen to raise awareness of the importance of wearing and reapplying sunscreen.
Misty, of Richland, Washington, US, said: "I felt like I was stitched up like Frankenstein. The hole was the circumference of a golf ball but wasn't as deep as one.
"I was really shocked when I saw the size of the hole and the stitching. I think that was the first time that I started actually processing any feelings about it. I kind of just shut it out when I went into it.
"My husband and friends are very kind and tell me it's not that bad, it's always more intense when it's on your face."
The child protective services supervisor said: "It started off the size of a pebble and then it kept getting bigger and bigger and it started having a secondary bump coming out of it down below, almost like a tail.
"When I go in for my monthly facials usually they can take care of them and they couldn't with this one.
"It just kept getting bigger and then one day when I was cleaning my glasses my fingernail snagged it and it started bleeding and I just figured it would close up but it never did.
"It got a little more conspicuous and when I went into my facial the next month I asked a dermatologist to come and look at it and she said that I needed to get it checked out."
After waiting around six weeks to be referred to a dermatologist, Misty was told that they were 90% sure it was cancerous.
A biopsy at the end of March confirmed their suspicions and she tested positive for basal cell carcinoma.
Misty said: "I honestly thought that I was just going in to get it frozen off because I had friends who had similar experiences.
"When they showed me the hole that was in my face I was really shocked. It was a lot more of a traumatic surgery than I thought it was going to be.
"I went through breast cancer when I was 34 and had a double mastectomy and went through chemotherapy, which was really traumatic for me and my family.
"When I found out it was cancer [skin] it was kind of surreal.
"Serving as a board member of our cancer centre, I'm exposed to a lot of worst-case scenarios and skin cancer can be pretty deadly, so that was always in the back of my mind.
"But I was confident that I'd caught it early enough so I was just bracing myself for the worst and hoping for the best, which is the attitude I try to take on these things."
Misty is now healing from her surgery and said she shouldn't need any further treatment.
Misty said: "I have five different friends now who have reached out to me and told me that they've scheduled skin checks with a dermatologist.
"I'm a missionary for sunscreen now and making sure people reapply.
"As we get older we're all pretty good about putting sunscreen on but it's the reapplying that I think a lot of us, I know I, failed at.
"I've been telling my friends and family that we're not invincible and it's a really small amount of effort to protect yourself from something that is for the most part preventable.
"When it's just you, you don't think about how it will impact anybody else, but when I was going through breast cancer I saw how much pain and trauma it put on my kids, husband and loved ones.
"So if you're not going to do it for yourself, just think about how it's going to impact other people if you do have a diagnosis that requires large treatment."
