Strictly's Shirley Ballas required stitches after severely cutting her hand

Watch: Shirley Ballas has had seven stitches after accidentally cutting her hand

Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas has resorted to taping a plastic bag over her hand to cool off in her pool after accidentally cutting herself.

The 60-year-old dance teacher attended A&E for an x-ray and treatment after accidentally cutting her hand so deep she is believed to have damaged the tendons.

Ballas told her 186k followers in a clip posted on her Instagram stories: "This morning, I sliced my hand and it went so deep that it’s really really through the flesh.

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"There was blood everywhere, so I’m now at A&E and I think I’m going to have a few stitches. Watch this space."

She later revealed she had had seven stitches and was being sent for an x-ray to check the tendon damage.

Ballas said: "I think it’s gone all the way through to the tendons so they’re going to send me to another hospital."

She added: "It looks small but extremely painful."

And the former dance champion then posted an update video from her outdoor swimming pool, showing off a blue plastic bag taped over her right hand and forearm to keep the wound dry.

Ballas said: "Quite painful but trying to keep it up as I do some exercise. All taped up but still painful. Hey ho got to keep moving!"

She later added: "I'm surviving with my arm and learning to do everything with the left!"

The Strictly star – who contracted coronavirus in March this year – revealed in June she was being tested for cancer after a lump was found in her shoulder.

While Ballas was being treated for COVID aftereffects (AKA long COVID), doctors discovered a "cyst or tumour" between two bones of her shoulder.

Ballas told GB News: "I am going backwards and forwards to the hospital all the time. I feel I seem to be getting sicker by the minute. I can't seem to get up and out. It's something between two bones and they are not really sure what it is yet.

"They have done the dye and the MRIs plus this and that. I get the results in a few weeks. The gentleman seems to think it will be fine but, still, it is worrying."

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The dancer had her DD breast implants removed in 2019 after discovering a growth on her chest.

There is a history of cancer in Ballas's family. Her mother Audrey was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2019, and her grandmother and aunt have also battled the illness.