TikTok user reveals terrifying moment she discovered ‘bug bites’ and ‘acne’ were basal cell carcinoma cancer

A woman was shocked after finding out her "bug bite" and "acne" were skin cancer. Photo / Getty Images

Things took a terrifying turn for a woman who discovered her “bug bites” and “acne” were actually skin cancer.

Taking to TikTok, the woman called Molly revealed to her followers that her scary health journey first began at 35 when she noticed a bump on her leg. Thinking it was just a bug bite, she ignored it until she realised shortly after that it hadn’t gone away.

Explaining she had a bump on the back of her leg, she said, “I had a little bump there, it itched, I itched it when I would shave my legs it would bleed a little bit sometimes and then it kind of got a little bit better and stopped bleeding, but it didn’t go away,” she says in a video that has had over a million views.

@hr_molly

Replying to @thelibertyedwards I watched it for months, it flaked and bled a tiny bit and never fully went away. #humanresources #hrtiktok #skincancer #skincancerawareness #basalcellcarcinoma

♬ original sound - HR Molly

“I would still look down and I could see it and feel it so I was actually starting to get this pit in my stomach that this could be skin cancer.” She went on to say she made a nerve-racking appointment with a dermatologist who told her it was nothing to worry about.

Noting that she was relieved, Molly added she also had the dermatologist check a “pimple” that was “slow to go away” on her lip and after the skin specialist took a look, she received an entirely different diagnosis.

“He’s like, ‘that’s probably skin cancer, I’m sure that’s skin cancer, I mean we’ll biopsy it but from me to you, that’s probably skin cancer’ and I was like ‘no no no, it’s a pimple, it’s acne’.” She says he then took another look at it and insisted it was cancer.

Molly shared photos of the skin cancer she believed was acne, before and after surgery. Photo / TikTok

“I was not mentally prepared to start getting shocked in my face, to have them take a biopsy. It was scary and kind of mentally traumatising,” Molly continues to say in the video.

She says the biopsy revealed the spot to be skin cancer and she had to have a six-and-a half-hour surgery to remove it. “It was rough,” she says.

Since receiving her first diagnosis, Molly has had basal cell carcinoma — a highly treatable, rarely deadly form of skin cancer — removed from her face, ears, back, legs, chest and stomach a total of nine times, and is recovering well.

Noting how they all looked different, she said one case of skin cancer they found looked like “a tiny scar”. She said at first it appeared like a tiny scratch that had healed, while others have looked like a raised bump.

Molly said she thought the bump on her leg was a bug bite. Photo / TikTok

She has shared multiple videos on her experience with cancer and urges anyone who finds an unusual spot on their body to get checked. She also warned her followers, “You don’t need a lot of sun exposure to get skin cancer.”

“Regardless of the complexion of your skin or your family history, please see a dermatologist if you have access to that.”