A beautician has revealed how a “doubtful” white spot on her lip ended up being skin cancer – and would have gone unnoticed if she hadn’t pushed for a proper diagnosis.
Melissa Floss, 52, from Western Australia, told FEMAIL she went to several medical professionals before someone finally figured out what was wrong.
“I went to my GP and he told me it was nothing. That didn’t sit well with me, so I went to my dentist to get a second opinion and they sent me home too,” Melissa said.
Melissa felt like she was being ignored, so she sought a third opinion from another primary care doctor.
Melissa Floss, 52, went to her GP after noticing a white spot on her lip (visible on the bottom left), but was told “it was nothing”.
He hadn’t reached his bone yet, so he was able to keep his lower jaw (the point shown on the right side of his lower lip)
“If you had told me it was nothing, I probably would have stopped asking questions,” he said.
But this GP didn’t fool her.
Instead, they used a special tool to closely examine the spot on Melissa’s lip, which at first glance looked like a lighter patch of rough skin, and referred her to a dermatologist..
“The doctor immediately told me it was skin cancer, but he wasn’t sure how advanced it was,” he said.
The cancer was a squamous cell skin cancer and while it was not fatal, it could have caused more serious problems and spread if left untreated.
“They told me it was in my tissue and if I had gone too far they would have to cut my jaw off,” he said.
Terrified, Melissa paid cash to the best surgeon she could find to operate on her quickly.
“The public waiting list was too long,” he said.
The morning she had surgery, doctors warned her that she might wake up without her lower jaw.
Melissa works in the beauty industry and had previously noticed dodgy spots on her clients, so she kept pushing.
Months later, she had been rushed in for surgery and had her fingers crossed that the cancer hadn’t reached her bone.
That was all she could think about as they took her into surgery.
“I work in the beauty industry, my face is everything,” she said.
When he woke up hours later he asked to see her face. While she was hard to see, she was relieved to see herself still in one piece.
“It was challenging, but I knew I still had a jaw. “He couldn’t see behind all the Band-Aids and bandages and stuff,” she said.
The mass measured only 1.7 cm by 1.6 cm and was completely removed with a large enough margin that no further treatments were necessary.
Melissa has warned several of her patients about suspicious-looking spots during her decades in the beauty industry.
The doctors took a closer look and realized it was cancer.
Many have returned to thank him for raising the alarm.
“I can’t diagnose things, but if I think something seems wrong, I’ll let them know that they should think about getting it checked for peace of mind,” he said.
After her own journey, this has made her even more persistent.
“If you think something isn’t right and you keep getting fired, get a second or third opinion,” he said.
He now also has regular mole mapping on his body and refuses to take any more risks.
balm The experience comes amid calls for the skills of beauty therapists and beauticians to be better used to help detect life-threatening melanomas and skin cancers.
Sector professionals say this will relieve pressure on a healthcare system that is already under strain.
Melissa said that if the third health professional had fired her, she would have simply ignored the white spot.
Sydney-based skin genomics and aesthetics specialist Stefan Mazy, CEO of DermR Health Solutions, said beauty therapists and beauticians are becoming potential lifesavers by raising concerns.
“People working in the beauty, aging and hairdressing industries are in a unique position to detect abnormalities in the skin of a client’s face, neck, ears and scalp during routine visits” said Mr. Mazy.
‘Therapists spend up to an hour at a time in direct contact with the client’s skin several times a year and can also access hard-to-see spots. With such intimate and frequent interactions, they would know the skin better than the client’s GP or dermatologist.’
Mazy has over 15 years of experience in the aesthetics industry, specializing in skin genomics training and education, and over five years dedicated specifically to skin cancer and genomics.
It is also developing a new skin cancer diagnostic tool that will allow estheticians, nurses and allied health professionals to detect whether a lesion could be cancerous.
“A therapist noticing a suspicious spot could mean the difference between life and death for someone,” he said.
“We know that 90 percent of melanomas can be successfully treated if detected early, and early detection is associated with high survival rates.”
Maria Enna-Cocciolone, CEO of Australian skincare brand O Cosmedics, and her team spend considerable time and effort educating therapists not only about the products, but also about skin health, and learn to many therapists who have identified melanomas.
“A therapist can make the difference between catching something early or sadly catching it when it’s too late,” Ms. Enna-Cocciolone said.
‘Over the years, I have heard hundreds of stories from therapists who have highlighted spots, moles and lesions, and insisted on a doctor’s clearance before performing treatments and even active skin care, only to find their claims confirmed. suspicions.
“Given the scope of treatments therapists perform, many have identified life-threatening basal cell carcinomas and saved many lives and the intense treatment trauma that comes with a late diagnosis.”
Mazy said that when a therapist notices a suspicious spot or skin change and initiates a conversation, the client can be encouraged to take the next step and get properly examined.
Australia is the skin cancer capital of the world, and treatments for melanoma and other skin cancers are the biggest cost of cancer in the healthcare system, costing more than $1.7 billion each year.