Sept. 12 (UPI) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has a common form of skin cancer, she told reporters Thursday.
Hochul announced her diagnosis of basal cell carcinoma after a public safety press conference. She said her doctor discovered the cancer during a routine medical visit a few weeks ago.
“A tiny, tiny speck on my nose, you can’t even see it,” Hochul said. In an “excess of precaution,” Hochul will have the tumor removed Friday morning, she said.
Surgery to remove basal cell carcinomas is typically done in office on an outpatient basis and patients go home the same day.
“I’ll be out of commission for about an hour or two tomorrow morning,” Hochul said, adding that when she returns to her office “there will be a bandage on my nose.”
Basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer and is detected about 3.6 million times a year, according to The Skin Cancer Foundation.
Thanks to better detection methods, this form of cancer is becoming detected more frequently, according to the American Cancer Society.
“Currently, the best estimate for the total number of nonmelanoma skin cancers diagnosed annually in the U.S. is 5.4 million. The study that figure was based on is from 2015, but it is still the best number we have, the Skin Cancer Foundation said.
Basal cell carcinoma is one of the slowest growing form of cancer and is not typically life threatening, but if left untreated it can “wrap around nerves and blood vessels” and spread to muscle and bone, the American Academy of Dermatology says on its website.
Hochul is not the first high profile politician to be in the spotlight for skin cancer. The late Arizona Sen. John McCain was diagnosed with melanoma, among the most dangerous types of skin cancer, for the second time in 2000.
McCain went on to become the Republican nominee for president and brought substantial attention to the dangers of prolonged sun exposure.
