A woman who covered a spot with concealer for many months has been given a shock cancer diagnosis. Michelle Davis from New Zealand first spotted the red pimple in April last year and believed it to be just a spot.
That was until the 52-year-old realised how sore the pimple was, claiming it would flare up and down. She decided to squeeze the spot but as it began to bleeding and didn't stop she visited the doctor to find out more, reports Wales Online.
The GP immediately thought it was cancer and diagnosed her with basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer, after a biopsy, with Michelle being forced to undergo surgery to cut the cancer out.
The woman won't require further treatment and is said to be recovering well from the operation. She admits she had never heard of her condition before the diagnosis: "I thought 'what am I doing getting a pimple at 52'. It will go away – I kept telling myself.
“It would flare up and go back down. I remember squeezing it and nothing coming out. Then it bled and bled and bled – for like a week.
“I was in shock when I found out. I had never heard of basal cell carcinoma.”
She first spotted the pimple in April 2022 and spent many hours covering it up with concealer. By the following January it was so sore she felt compelled to squeeze it.
She said: “It was really hard. Like a volcano under the skin. I went walking with my girlfriend and it went purple and she pointed it out. I said ‘it’s just a pimple’.
"I was in denial. Nothing happened [after squeezing]. Then it bled and bled. I thought ‘that’s not normal’.”
The surgery which required a nasal flap reconstruction in April removed the caner and pulled the nose skin over the hole. “They cut up my nose in a zig zag. They cut out a crater. There was a hole in the end of my nose," Michelle said.
“They then bring the skin down to cover it. It’s still healing.
“My nostrils are different shapes because they stretched the skin. The scar tissue is hard. The nerves are numb. Some people end up losing their nose so thank goodness.”
Michelle will now be monitored by doctors annually as it has been said she is more prone to skin cancer after being diagnosed. She wants to raise awareness of the symptoms so others can get checked.
She added: “If I’d kept ignoring it, it would have got way bigger. I might have got to the stage where they couldn’t cut it out.
“I honestly thought it was a pimple. I thought skin cancer was a mole. Skin block wasn't a thing when I was growing up. Now it's in my day to day skin care.
“At first I thought I’m 52 and single, now I’m going to have this hideous nose. But it’s been quite empowering. It’s only skin deep. It’s what’s on the inside that counts.”
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