Small bump under mum’s eye turned out to be skin cancer

Watch: Mum has skin cancer removed from face after not wearing enough sunscreen as a child

A woman, who never sunbathes, has shared how she has been left with a facial scar after a small bump under her eye turned out to be a skin cancer.

Sarah Trushell, 38, a parish clerk from Anwick, Lincolnshire, was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma - the most common form of skin cancer - on June 28, 2023.

The mum-of-three's health journey began five years ago when she noticed a small bump underneath her right eye.

Initially she didn’t think anything of it, but over the years, it slowly started to grow and she’d occasionally catch it on her nail if she was itching her eye.

Thinking it was just a patch of sensitive skin, she tried covering it with silicone patches with the small lump usually scabbing over.

"I just thought 'it’s a bump on a delicate bit of skin, I’m scratching it and making it worse'," she explains.

"But in the last couple of years, I could see it becoming more prominent."

The turning point came when her husband, Ian, 48, an IT technician for the RAF, urged his wife to see a GP after noticing the lesion himself.

In June last year she arranged an e-consultation with her doctor, who then saw her in-person two days later.

"My GP has an interest in dermatology, so he looked at the edges of it through a special camera, and got a second opinion from another GP," Sarah says.

"He told me he thought it was skin cancer, but explained that the dermatologist would confirm it.

"Thankfully, he reassured me he didn't think it was melanoma and advised me not to panic."

In December 2023, a dermatologist at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle officially diagnosed Sarah with basal cell carcinoma (BCC), one of the most common forms of skin cancer, which accounts for 75 in every 100 cases in the UK, according to the NHS

She was told she had a "textbook" case - and needed Mohs surgery, a method of surgically removing skin cancers, most often basal cell carcinoma where individual skin layers are removed.

The dermatologist was confident there was a direct link to Sarah's upbringing in Bermuda and Cyprus, as well as not wearing strong SPF in childhood.

"I’ve never been a sunbather," she explains. "But I lived in Bermuda for a couple of years when I was really young and we holidayed in Cyprus every year.

"We didn’t really know anything about sun cream. I remember my mum applying it but I don’t think it was strong enough," she continues.

On March 20 this year Sarah had surgery on March 20, 2024 to remove the skin cancer, which was a success.

"I had to wait for my margins to come back from the lab, which were clear, thankfully," she explains.

“This meant they’d removed all the cancer from my face in one go."

It means she shouldn't need further treatment, but Sarah has been left with a 3in scar along her cheek.

"I was warned about the scar, but it was still a big shock anyway," she says of the first time she saw it.

"Usually, I’m fascinated by these things, despite being quite squeamish.

"But because it was my face, I wasn’t able to dissociate myself from the situation - I looked like something from a zombie movie.

"I handed back the mirror and felt my stomach turn."

Doctors haven’t said how long the scar will take to heal and she is now trying to embrace her new face in the meantime.

"In a weird way, I’ve learnt to embrace it," she continues.

"It helps that I take care of myself much more. It was not taking care of myself that got me into this mess in the first place.

"So I need to make sure I stick to my healing routine - by keeping my scar clean and moistening it.

"People do stare, but I’m 6ft 2in, so I’ve had stares all my life, anyway."

While she says the scar still surprises her every morning when she brushes her teeth, she is trying to stay positive.

"It's just another part of my journey," she adds. "And it looks worse than it is."

What is Basal cell carcinoma?

Basal cell carcinoma is a type of non-melanoma skin cancer.

According to the NHS, the term non-melanoma distinguishes these more common types of skin cancer from the less common skin cancer known as melanoma which can be more serious.

In the UK, around 147,000 new cases of non-melanoma skin cancer are diagnosed each year. It affects more men than women and is more common in the elderly.

The first sign of non-melanoma skin cancer is usually the appearance of a lump or discoloured patch on the skin that persists after a few weeks and slowly progresses over months or sometimes years.

While Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) usually appears as a small, shiny pink or pearly-white lump with a translucent or waxy appearance, it can also look like a red, scaly patch.

The lump slowly gets bigger and may become crusty, bleed or develop into a painless ulcer.

Basal cell carcinoma does not usually spread to other parts of the body, and treatments include surgery to remove the cancerous tumour and some of the surrounding skin, freezing (cryotherapy), anti-cancer creams, radiotherapy and a form of light treatment called photodynamic therapy (PDT).

The treatment used will depend on the type, size and location of the non-melanoma skin cancer you have.

Additional reporting SWNS.

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