Rosie O'Donnell has shared a health update with her fans after revealing her skin cancer diagnosis.
The 62-year-old comedian revealed on her TikTok account earlier this week that a growth next to her eye had been removed after her doctors "said it was basal cell skin cancer."
"So they took it out. It was a little bit deep," she said in the clip as she showed the stitches on her face. "They had to dig deep and give [me] some stitches. And then they gave me some kind of laser facial."
In the video—which was captioned "get urself checked for skin cancer - just had some removed from above my eye"—the A League of Their Own star revealed that she was further informed of pre-cancerous growth on her lips, which was also treated.
"All I know is this hurts. It looks like it hurts, and it does hurt," she said. "So they say it's going to be bad for a couple days."
Taking to Instagram, O'Donnell shared a close-up photo of the growth in question, adding the caption that she "had this bump near my eye—went to the dermatologist when it started to scab—#basalcell skin cancer—all removed and fine—get checked."
In a follow-up TikTok video, O'Donnell said she was "very lucky that I went when I went... This thing hadn't gone away, it was flat, like a smooshed pea. But was white."
"It was just like a skin tag, but it wasn't floppy," she added. "Then it started to get a scab on it, and that's what made me go—my friend... She's married to a great eye doctor, and he does corneas.
"He also said, 'You have to go get that taken off. I think that's skin cancer.' And he was right. So thank God for good friends. Thank God for people who know good doctors."
O'Donnell said that she subsequently underwent Mohs laser surgery to have the growth removed, a procedure that she said "took about three and a half hours."
"I was very happy that it got done," she said.
By Thursday, O'Donnell shared that her face looked "pretty, pretty bad. But I'm very happy that I went and I got my basal cell skin cancer removed from the corner of my eye up here. And it's in the shadowy spot, my doctor said."
She said that the affected skin is expected to eventually peel away, a process that had begun at the time she posted the video.
Basal cell carcinoma—a slow-growing cancer often linked to sun exposure—is one of the most common types of skin cancer. It is highly curable, especially if it's caught early, and is often removed with a shallow incision. The cancer is usually confined to the surface of the skin, however, if it goes untreated, it can spread to nearby areas and grow on bone or tissue.
Although basal cell carcinomas are generally low risk because they rarely spread, the lesions can become "disfiguring and dangerous" if left untouched, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.
Lesions are typically found on areas of the skin that have been exposed to the sun and may appear "like open sores, red patches, pink growths, shiny bumps, scars or growths with slightly elevated, rolled edges and/or a central indentation," according to the foundation.
Melanoma has the highest mortality rate of all skin cancers, although it only accounts for 1 percent of all cases. The second most common form of skin cancer is squamous cell carcinoma, which is considered to be generally curable, although somewhat more dangerous than basal cell carcinoma.
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