Loose Women star Janet Street Porter has warned the “sun is deadly” and has shown off her “cancer scar” to prove it.
Last month Janet, 73, revealed she had skin cancer on her nose.
Having and has since undergone surgery to remove it, the Loose Women panelist has warned others of the dangers of the sun.
Writing in her Daily Mail column, she said, “Yes the sun IS deadly – and here’s my cancer scar to prove it.”
Having had the cancerous skin growth removed, Janet has been left with a scar running down her nose.
She explained, “Honestly, I am not a particularly vain person, which is a good thing because I now have a scar running right down my nose. Yes, slap bang in the middle of my face.
“It will fade, but for the time being I am going to have to get used to seeing this new line when I look in the mirror.
“It’s the scar I was left with after I had surgery to remove a cancerous skin growth last month — and one I regard as just another milestone in a very eventful life.”
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The outspoken TV star admitted she spent most of lockdown feeling anxious about the surgery.
“I was about to have it removed, then lockdown happened. I’ve spent the whole of lockdown getting more and more anxious.”
But now the “terrifying” ordeal is over she’s keen to raise awareness of just how dangerous the sun can be.
“The irony is not lost on me — a fair-skinned woman who’s spent half a century taking huge care of my skin, wearing Factor 50 in the sun, slathering my face in moisturiser morning and night, and shunning thick foundation if I’m not working — that I should get skin cancer,” she admitted.
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“I haven’t been sunburned for more than 30 years. Yet the tiny spot on my nose, which I thought was an insect bite in February turned out to be a basal cell carcinoma, the most common kind of the disease.”
Taking aim at Ulrika Jonsson – who proudly deems herself a “sun worshipper,” Janet said, “I winced when I read Ulrika Jonsson’s confession in the Mail this week that she’s too much of a sun-worshipper to give up sunbathing — after she posted a very revealing picture of her sun-damaged face online.”
Her advice? “Keep your face out of the sun, wear a hat and slap on Factor 50. Otherwise you could be in for a nasty shock.”
