Some of the things the Kardashians post on social media border on the ridiculous. Take, for example, Kim’s recent tutorial on how to use a tissue box holder, in which she explained that one must remove the tissues from the Kleenex box before placing them into her $89 concrete box (that’s it—that’s the tutorial). But even if much of their content is out of touch with reality, their power to influence can’t be denied, so it’s important when they do speak up on important matters. Earlier this week, on Instagram, Khloé did just that when she revealed why she’s been wearing a bandage on her face and urged her 276 million followers to get checked for skin cancer.
“After noticing a small bump on my face and assuming it was something as minor as a zit, I decided to get it biopsied 7 months after realizing it was not budging,” she wrote on a photo of her cheek, where she circled the flesh-colored bump in question. She then wrote that two dermatologists, Dr. Tess Mauricio, a board-certified dermatologist in San Diego, and Dr. Daniel Behroozan, a board-certified dermatologist in Beverly Hills, California, examined and biopsied it because “what they both were seeing was incredibly rare for someone my age. A few days later I was told I need to have an immediate operation to remove a tumor from my face,” Khloé wrote.
According to Dr. Mauricio, mistaking skin cancer for an innocuous lesion is a fairly common occurrence. “I have personally diagnosed skin cancers where the original lesion looked very innocent. It can look like just a small, skin-colored growth, a pearly, translucent smooth growth, a changing mole, or discoloration on the skin,” she told RealSelf. “It’s important to be self aware, do regular skin checks at home and know your moles and lumps and bumps, where they are, and how they look. If you get any new growths or the old ones are changing, bring it to your dermatologist’s attention.”
Kardashian then posted a photo of her bandaged cheek, with the caption: “I’m grateful that [Beverly Hills, California, board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Garth Fisher] was able to get everything—all my margins appear clear now and we are onto the healing process.” While she didn’t offer any additional specifics about the type of surgery she had, Mohs surgery is one common option used to treat skin cancer. This skin-sparing surgical technique involves cutting away very small pieces of the affected area at a time in order to create the smallest scar possible. It’s often used for a variety of skin cancers, including basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas (two of the more common types).
It bears mentioning that Khloé never outright referred to her growth as skin cancer, but rather, as a tumor. “Tumors can be either benign or malignant. In my opinion, the ‘immediate surgical removal’ suggests that the doctor believed her tumor was a skin cancer that presented immediate health risks,” says New York City board-certified dermatologist Dr. Dendy Engelman. “However, it is entirely possible that the recommendation to remove the tumor could have been cosmetically-motivated, especially given that it was on her face,” she adds.
Khloe also did go on to share that she’d had a melanoma on her back surgically removed at the age of 19. While she didn’t specify if this most recent growth was a melanoma, “Depending on the severity of melanoma when it’s diagnosed, there is definitely a varying increased risk for recurrence of a melanoma. The more advanced stage the melanoma, the higher the risk for recurrence,” says Dr. Mauricio, who adds that it’s most likely to return within five years of diagnosis. And, as RealSelf previously reported, people who develop any kind of skin cancer are at a higher chance of having it recur, even if it’s a different type or shows up elsewhere on the body.
Khloé’s final Instagram Story on the topic ended with an urge for people to get skin cancer checks. “Please take this seriously and do regular self-exams, as well as your annual checkups,” she wrote.
And Khloé isn’t the only reality star dealing with a skin cancer scare. Former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Teddi Mellencamp recently revealed that a biopsy of an abnormal spot on her back came back as stage 2 melanoma and that she’ll be seeing an oncologist next week for removal. “Moral of this story: if a doctor says, “come in every 3 months” please go in every 3 months. I so badly wanted to blow this off. “What could happen in 3 months?” I thought. Apparently a lot. I continue to share this journey because I was a 90s teen, putting baby oil and iodine on my skin to tan it. Never wearing sunscreen or getting my moles checked until I was 40 years old. This has been such a wakeup call for me, and I hope to all of you, to love and protect the skin you’re in,” she wrote in her Instagram post.
