“I thought it was just a scratch”: Leah’s wake-up call on skin cancer

Leah’s skin cancer journey started with what looked like a tiny scratch on her forehead. “Just a little red dot. Sometimes it looked like it was healing, other times it’d get a bit crusty. But it never fully went away.”

She tried to ignore it. “I even put hydrocortisone cream on it—several times—but nothing changed. That’s when it hit me: maybe this isn’t just a scratch.”

Eventually, she booked a skin check. During the appointment, they flagged the spot, plus a couple of others, as suspicious and recommended follow-up sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately, Leah did wait—longer than she should have.

Leah underwent Mohs surgery to remove the cancer. The procedure involves removing cancerous tissue layer by layer, with each layer examined under a microscope in real-time until no cancer cells remain.

“The whole thing took about six hours,” Leah recalls. “I had three rounds before they were confident all the cancer was gone. When I saw the size of the wound afterward—I was horrified. The original spot was only 2–3 millimetres wide, but they had to remove so much more tissue to ensure the cancer hadn’t spread.”

Despite the length of the procedure, Leah felt reassured by the care she received. “They even spotted another area on my face that needed a biopsy — I’m still waiting on those results, but it showed how thorough they were.”

Since her skin cancer diagnosis, Leah’s sun habits have completely changed.

“I wear hats. I use sunscreen. I don’t try to tan anymore. It’s just not worth it. This experience has made me far more conscious of how quickly things can change.”

When asked what she’d say to someone putting off a skin check, Leah puts it simply:

“Don’t be an idiot—just get it done. If I’d left mine even three more months, my whole forehead might have been disfigured. It’s frightening how fast things can escalate.

“Just be smart about sun safety.”