Shocking reason why woman could not get rid of blemish under eye
A woman’s tiny blemish under her eye has turned out to be something far more dangerous after doctors discovered the spot was cancerous.
Gibson Miller, a school teacher from New York, first noticed the tiny bump around a year ago under her left eye.
When it didn’t go away, the 24-year-old decided to get it checked out and discovered she had stage 1 basal cell carcinoma, the early stages of skin cancer.
Terrifyingly, Ms Miller realised she’d had the spot for longer than she’d thought after going through old photos and noticing the mark in pictures from three years ago.
“No one else would notice it. It was very small. It was pearlised,” she told US media outlet Today.
The fit and healthy woman has played tennis since she was 9, but admitted that she wasn’t a regular sunscreen user.
“I applied it more to my face and shoulders,” she said. “I wore a hat a little bit. I didn’t really care for them,” she said.
Ms Miller said she never wore sunglasses either, leaving the area around her eyes unprotected.
Two rounds of surgery
At the end of June, Ms Miller underwent two surgeries in two days.
The first operation was to remove the cancer, while the second was reconstructive surgery to close the tissue under her eye with as minimal scarring as possible.
Now, her outlook on sun protection is completely different.
“My face does not get sun,” she told Today. “I tell everyone to wear sunscreen all the time. I tell them it is not worth it.”
“The stigma around seeing sunscreen on someone is outdated. Sunscreen is sexy.”
Australia the skin cancer capital of the world
Australia has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, where at least two in three Aussies will be diagnosed with it before the age of 70, according to the Cancer Council.
Check your skin regularly and keep an eye out for changes in shape, colour and size of moles and freckles.
If detected early, 95 per cent of sin cancers can be successfully treated.
For best protection against the sun, the Cancer Council recommends:
Slip on sun-protective clothing that covers as much skin as possible
Slop on broad spectrum, water resistant SPF30+ sunscreen. Put it on 20 minutes before you go outdoors and every two hours afterwards.
Slap on a hat that protects your face, head, neck and ears
Seek shade
Slide on some sunglasses (make sure they meet Australian standards)
Be extra cautious in the middle of the day when UV levels are most intense
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