SICK BED
Lump on sunbed addict’s lip turned out to be sign of skin cancer – but op left her with deformed pout
Kory Feltz started tanning at just 13. Within 14 years, she developed her first of a number of bouts of cancer
A TAN addict has been left with a deformed pout after a simple removal procedure to rid her of skin cancer went wrong.
Kory Feltz, 40, started tanning from 13 as a result of being bullied for being pale.
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Discovering that having a tan made her feel more confident, she started to use sunbeds three times a week and burning her skin to create a "base tan".
"I would burn on purpose because it set my skin up for a base tan," Kory said.
"I have blistered, burnt, soaked and baked in the sun. All could have been avoided by simply applying sun lotion and keeping away from sunbeds.
“I rarely ever used sun lotion. I can only remember wearing it a few times and that was only because my mum made me."
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By 27, she'd developed a lump the size of a golf ball on her calf.
Docs removed and tested it, and found it to be a squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), a common form of skin cancer.
From then on, Kory had to go for skin checkups every six months.
In October 2015, however, she noticed a small lump on her lip which she assumed was just a spot.
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But no whitehead appeared and despite squeezing, no liquid came out.
Over the next few days, it formed white tissue on the top - which Kory recognised as another squamous.
“Because of my history with squamous cells, I was able to identify the early stages of the worst squamous I have had yet," she recalled.
"It surfaced on my lip as a tiny pink bump that looked like a spot but didn’t have a white head. I picked at it to see if I could extract any fluid and couldn’t.
Symptoms of skin cancer
Skin cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world.
Non-melanoma cancers are more common than melanomas, with 100,000 new cases being diagnosed every year in the UK.
The first sign of non-melanoma skin cancer is usually the appearance of a lump or discoloured patch on the skin that continues to persist after a few weeks, and slowly progresses over months or sometimes years.
Melanomas, on the other hand, is often characterised by a mole.
There are two common types of non-melanoma:
Basal cell carcinoma (accounts for 75 per cent of skin cancers): usually appears as a small, shiny pink or pearly-white lump with a waxy appearance. It can also look like a red, scaly patch. There's sometimes some brown or black pigment within the patch. The lump slowly gets bigger and may become crusty, bleed or develop into a painless ulcer.
Squamous cell carcinoma (accounts for the other 20 per cent): appears as a firm pink lump with a rough or crusted surface. There can be a lot of surface scale and sometimes even a spiky horn sticking up from the surface. The lump is often tender to touch, bleeds easily and may develop into an ulcer.
Melanoma
The most common sign is a new mole or a change in an existing mole. In most cases, melanomas have an irregular shape and are more than one colour.
The mole may also be larger than normal and can sometimes be itchy or bleed. Look out for a mole which changes progressively in shape, size and/or colour.
The ABCDE checklist should help you tell the difference between a normal mole and a melanoma:
Asymmetrical – melanomas have 2 very different halves and are an irregular shape
Border – melanomas have a notched or ragged border
Colours – melanomas will be a mix of 2 or more colours
Diameter – most melanomas are larger than 6mm (1/4 inch) in diameter
Enlargement or elevation – a mole that changes size over time is more likely to be a melanoma
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“A few days later, a tiny cauliflower-like tissue appeared on top of it. I knew it was a squamous. I called my dermatologist but couldn’t get an appointment for over a month. As a week passed, it grew considerably so I walked into the dermatology office and showed them the lump and said I needed to be seen right away.
“I had a biopsy done and it came back a week later that it was a squamous. I was transferred to a plastic surgeon and saw him two weeks later, by which point it was the size of a cashew."
She was booked in with a plastic surgeon to have the lump frozen and removed but the procedure proved harder than initially suspected and there was still cancer in the body even after removal.
The op, which should have taken an hour, ended up lasting five hours because more and more tissue had to be removed - eventually deforming Kory's lip.
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When she woke up from surgery, the first thing she asked was whether she now looked like Kylie Jenner.
She said: “I knew it was bad when I noticed little mobility in my mouth while trying to ask the nurse if I looked like Kylie Jenner. Her facial expression to that question led me to the conclusion that it wasn’t good.”
She's since had two corrective surgeries, including having the bottom of her nose cut and moved closer to its natural position, and cutting the corner of her lip to create mobility for her upper lip.
Kory's also had to use a chemo cream, which dried her skin out considerably but which has been successful in killing off remaining bits of cancer.
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She says that she had more cancers than she ever expected, so had to use the cream to deal with each spot.
She now wants to raise awareness of skin cancer and how tanning can dramatically increase the risk of developing it.
Her face will never look the same again, and she says that she wishes she'd made the most of her features before.
"My features will never return to normal, unfortunately. I have a huge scar, an oddly shaped lip, I dribble, have speech issues and I have nightmares of being on the surgical table.
“If I could only go back. I can’t and I know that, but it kills me to think about how avoidable this is.
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MORE ON SKIN CANCER
"I am now sharing awareness for skin cancer and skin checks. I will always miss wearing red lipstick and I’ll always regret not kissing my husband more.
“Skin cancer needs to be taken seriously. I want everyone to know that SCC can be deadly so don’t avoid the doctor.
"My goal is to have skin checks be included with our annual checks like breast, colon, pap, teeth, eyes and so on.”
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