Advertisement
Home Health & Wellbeing

Mum’s shock: My clogged pore was SKIN CANCER

Joanne was stunned to discover the sinister truth behind the bump on her nose

A brave mum was left with a gruesome facial scar when a ‘clogged pore’ turned out to be skin cancer.

Advertisement

Joanne Wall, 48, was stunned when a doctor told her an almost-invisible raised bump on her nose was in fact skin cancer in March. 

The future bride had not suspected the spot on her nose could be cancer – and had only mentioned it to her doctor in passing while visiting over something unrelated. 

my clogged pore was skin cancer
Joanne was shocked to discover the enlarged pore on her nose was skin cancer (Credit: Kennedy News & Media)

Just one month later she underwent surgery to cut out the cancer and stretch the skin from her cheek across her nose. 

Advertisement

Now she has a red scar in the shape of a heart across her nose and knocked her confidence when out in public. 

Joanne – who is due to marry partner Craig, 49, in September – is positive surgery was the right thing to do – and says she couldn’t have done it without her husband-to-be by her side. 

‘I would have lived with this for years if it hadn’t flared up during my doctor’s appointment. I don’t know what would have happened,’ she says.

‘I had had this little blotch visible on my nose for some years – it was so tiny that it wasn’t visible to anybody else. Because it was so small and unnoticeable I didn’t think it could be anything bad. 

Advertisement

‘I used to assume maybe it was a spot that hadn’t come through yet. I used to squeeze it. I thought it was a blocked pore and that it would go away.  

‘I went to the doctor for something unrelated and I asked him to have a look at it. I was a bit panicky with the diagnosis but at the time he did reassure me. He said, ‘I know cancer is a scary word but this one is the best type to get’.”

my clogged pore was skin cancer
The tiny bump was hardly visible (Credit: Kennedy News & Media)
my clogged pore was skin cancer
Joanne has been left with a scar on her nose (Credit: Kennedy News & Media)
Advertisement

A consultant diagnosed Joanne’s ‘blocked pore’ as a 3mm basal cell carcinoma (BCC) cutaneous nodule with telangiectasia.  

He suggested several different treatment options including radiotherapy, but Joanne, from South Yorkshire, UK, opted to have surgery.  

‘Although at times I hate looking in the mirror, the unconditional support and love from my partner, who tells me I’m beautiful no matter what, gets me through,’ she says.

‘The consultant said it could have been sun damage from when I was a child. I was born in 1970 and people weren’t really sun aware back then’

Advertisement

Related stories


Advertisement
Advertisement