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Janet Street-Porter shares skin cancer diagnosis as she prepares for surgery

Janet Street-Porter has shared that she will be undergoing a procedure this week to remove a basal cell carcinoma after receiving a skin cancer diagnosis.

The presenter appeared remotely on Loose Women on Tuesday where she told her co-hosts that she had noticed a small mark on her face after holidaying in Australia last winter.

"I showed this tiny spot on my nose to a dermatologist and he immediately referred me to a consultant," she explained.

Read more: The signs, symptoms and risk factors of skin cancer

"They said I have a basal cell carcinoma which is a form of skin cancer, and if untreated, it could grow. It has to be removed. Otherwise, it's going to get bigger and bigger and also I could be left with a very big scar."

Janet Street Porter attends the Reinvented and Reimagined Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London relaunch party on June 11, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park)
Janet Street Porter attends the Reinvented and Reimagined Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London relaunch party on June 11, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park)

The journalist disclosed that she had intended to have the operation in March, however, the procedure was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Street-Porter told her colleagues she been getting "more and more" anxious about it during lockdown. She went on to urge viewers to check their skin for any signs of abnormality.

According to the NHS website, a basal cell carcinoma accounts for approximately 75 in every 100 skin cancers and does not typically spread to other parts of the body.

Janet Street-Porter has shared her skin cancer diagnosis. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images for Association of Train Operating Companies)
Janet Street-Porter has shared her skin cancer diagnosis. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images for Association of Train Operating Companies)

Explaining the procedure, Street-Porter went on: “It's a local anaesthetic, where the surgeon takes a slither of the cancer and then analyses it while you're there. So they only take out exactly what they have to take out and you know what's going on.

“That has a 99 per cent success rate and leaves the smallest scar. It has really been playing on my nerves, and I'm someone who always puts factor 50 on my nose.”

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