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Louise Thomas
Editor
YouTuber Joey Graceffa has revealed he’s been diagnosed with skin cancer.
“So, I have skin cancer,” the internet personality, 33, said in a TikTok video posted on August 8. “Um, that’s fun. No, it’s not fun at all, actually.”
Graceffa detailed to his 473,000 followers how he discovered he had basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer. The content creator pointed to a circular red mark on the right side of his nose, the cancerous mark.
He said: “I had to get a biopsy done to determine that it was skin cancer. I’ve actually had this mark, this redness, on my nose for maybe the past year and a half to two years.”
According to the YouTube star, “several” dermatologists had looked at the red mark and argued it was only a “broken blood vessel.” However, Graceffa felt inclined to return to the dermatologist once he noticed it starting to scab over.
“I literally passed out in the chair when the biopsy happened,” Graceffa confessed. “Not because it like hurt or anything but because I am so queasy when it comes to anything gore or blood related.”
A few days after the biopsy, Graceffa received a call from the doctor telling him he had basal cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer that occurs “when the DNA of basal cells in the skin’s epidermis is damaged,” according to the Mayo Clinic. This cancer is one of the most common forms of skin cancer, per the American Cancer Society.
Graceffa explained that he’s now considering his options after the diagnosis. The doctor supposedly recommended Mohs surgery, an operation where thin layers of the affected skin are cut to try and extract the cancer. However, Graceffa was also thinking about taking a natural treatment route like castor oil and aloe vera or undergoing radiation.
The idea of Mohs surgery, a three-hour operation, made the internet icon light-headed. “If I passed out from just 40 seconds of the biopsy, how am I going to last 45 minutes? I don’t freaking know,” Graceffa confessed.
At this time, Graceffa said he was leaning more toward radiation treatment. According to the American Cancer Society, radiation therapy for skin cancer is the use of “high-energy rays to kill cancer cells.”
