Loose Women star Janet Street-Porter has revealed she’s been diagnosed with skin cancer.
The daytime TV panellist found out she had a basal cell carcinoma just three days before the country went into lockdown in March, and is due to undergo surgery on her nose this week.
Janet spoke about her diagnosis on Loose Women, telling her fellow panellists she originally thought the spot on her nose was a mosquito bite, after returning home from Australia after Christmas.
She said: “I showed this tiny spot on my nose to a dermatologist and he immediately referred me to a consultant and they said I’ve got a basal cell carcinoma, which is a form of skin cancer.
“If untreated it could grow. It has to be removed otherwise it’s going to get bigger and bigger. Also, I could be left with a very big scar.
“I was about to have it removed then lockdown happened three days before I was supposed to have it removed. I’ve spent the whole of lockdown getting more and more anxious about it.
“Although it doesn’t look any bigger on top of my skin, this kind of cancer grows under the skin. You can’t see it and that’s what they’ve got to cut out.”
According to Melanoma UK, basal cell carcinoma is a non-melanoma skin cancer, and is the most common type of all skin cancer in the UK.
It is mostly commonly caused by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun or from sunbeds, and often appears on areas of the body that are most exposed to sunlight, such as the face, head, neck and ears.