A young mum discovered the “pimple” that she tried to have frozen off was actually something much worse.
Rachel Olivia, who has shared her health journey online, now has a sizeable brown scab in the spot’s place. The 32-year-old discovered a pimple had popped up on her forehead near her hairline two years ago. The small red mark was initially dismissed by a doctor as a “pimple she had squeezed too hard”.
However the spot would flake and never healed, so Rachel, from Australia, decided to have it frozen off. She told News.com.au: “I left it for a year. It then never healed so I listened to my gut and pushed to get this reassessed by specialists who then did a biopsy and confirmed it was cancer.”
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(Image: Tiktok/@rachel.olivia_)
The diagnosis came as a shock to Rachel, who was always conscientious in the sun.
She said: “I’ve never been someone to tan or sit in the sun. I’m known among my friends and family for being the sun smart one.
“Unfortunately, I did have a few bad burns as a teenager and that’s all that it takes.”
The spot was not a melanoma, but a basal cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer that commonly appears on the face, as a white, waxy lump. It can also look like a brown, scaly patch.
(Image: Tiktok/@rachel.olivia_)
“I was relieved it was not a melanoma, but also shocked to still have cancer. He told me I was young to get something like this.
“He also explained that Australia has the highest rate of skin cancer.”
The mum was prescribed topical chemotherapy treatment Aldara, however she still may need to have the the cancer physically removed in six months time.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Although her treatment was non-invasive, Rachel said it still “had its challenges”, adding: “I have a baby, so I had to be super careful not to get the cream on her during the night when I needed to wear it.
“Now that it’s scabbed up, it’s so hard to look after it with a baby and not get it knocked.”
She added that it was also “quite confronting to see something that was such a small spot turn into something so big”.