Skin cancer mom reveals chemo cream made her look like an ‘acid attack victim’

A mother with cancer has shared shocking photos showing her chemotherapy cream making her look like an “acid attack victim.”

Honore Stark of Toronto, Canada, labeled it an “unusual spot” that she found on her forehead as eczema until she started eating meat in 2008.

It turns out that the “huge” spot is a type of skin cancer.

From the diagnosis, the 53-year-old man had “numerous” lesions appearing all over his body.

Although it has been around 30 surgeries to remove them, Ms. Stark still needs to use a chemotherapy cream to prevent her from developing more cancerous lesions.

But the mother-of-four describes the cancer cream as akin to “pumping acid” on her skin, as it’s covered with painful red crusts.

Regarding the side effects of the cream, which is supposed to last six hours a day, “He looks like he’s had an acid attack.

†[Using chemo cream] It’s like pouring acid on the skin and causing it to swell. That’s exactly how it feels and looks.’

Ms. Stark said the crusts, which can cover many parts of the face and neck, lead some people to believe they have been attacked or have a contagious disease.

“There were people who distanced themselves from me. It hurt my feelings and I felt left out,” she said.

“People pointed at me and didn’t know if I had a contagious disease or if someone had hurt me badly or if I had been in a car accident.”

Miss Stark, who never warned about sunscreen before she was diagnosed with skin cancer, is now trying to raise awareness about the disease and how to prevent it.

Ms. Stark, who was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2009, has had more than 30 surgeries to remove the lesions from her body, but has to apply the cream every day to control the cancerous tissue.

Miss Stark is now trying to raise awareness about skin cancer and urges people to use sunscreen and wear a hat to avoid a diagnosis like hers.

Miss Stark’s journey to skin cancer began in 2008 when she noticed a “penny dent” with a scaly texture on the upper part of her forehead.

“I thought it was dry skin or eczema for the first few months I saw it,” she said.

However, he said it did not disappear and began to show disturbing symptoms.

“It’s eating away at my skin and tissues and it’s so close to my brow bone that it scared me to go to my doctor,” she said.

Miss Stark, who was unemployed, remembered the shock of her first basal cell carcinoma diagnosis and the lack of empathy from the first doctor she saw.

“I was pretty nervous and didn’t know anything about skin cancer, and then he immediately looked at my forehead and said, ‘You have cancer.’ We need to set a date for the surgery to be taken,” she said.

“I was very discouraged and quite upset by the lack of empathy. I started to cry.

Ms. Stark has changed her doctors and has had more than 30 surgeries to remove various lesions since 2010 and cancer in her neck, arms and chest.

“I’ve had so many injuries over the years that I can’t count the number of them,” he said.

“I have the skin of a woman between the ages of 70 and 80”.

As part of ongoing treatment, Miss Stark should use sunscreen in all weather conditions and never be exposed to direct sunlight again.

Ms. Stark thinks her cancer is the result of never wearing sunscreen or taking other steps to protect her skin.

“I put sunscreen on my kids, but I never wore sunscreen at all,” she said.

“I had sunscreen at home, but it wasn’t something I thought of every morning before going out.

“I wasn’t wearing a hat or standing under an umbrella, which is why I have so much cancer.”

Unemployed since her diagnosis, she is now trying to raise awareness about skin cancer and how to stay safe in the sun by making TikTok videos, garnering more than 240,000 likes and followers.

The first sign of skin cancer the mother of four saw was an “unusual spot” she found on her forehead in 2008, which she initially dismissed as eczema. However, after his diagnosis, similar lesions developed on the neck, arms, and chest.

The 53-year-old actress said she never wears sunscreen or a hat while in the sun, so she now has the skin of a “woman in her 70s or 80s”.

“I want people to understand that the little behaviors they can incorporate into their routines can prevent this,” she said.

“So you wear a hat, I see the kids in the bright sun without a hat, and I think to myself, ‘that scares me,’ because what could their future be like?”

Skin cancer is called basal cell carcinoma and is the most common form of the disease. However, it does not usually spread to other parts of the body.

About 156,000 cases are diagnosed each year in the UK, rising to about 3.6 million per year in the US.

They usually appear on frequently sun-exposed areas of the skin, such as the nose, forehead, and cheeks, as well as on the back or lower legs.

Skin cancer is basically divided into two types as non-melanoma and melanoma, and basal cell skin cancer ranks first.

While melanoma skin cancer is considered more dangerous as it can spread to organs and tissues, it is very rare for non-melanoma skin cancer to do so.

Basal cell carcinomas are almost always curable, but some patients, such as Ms. Stark, require continued or further treatment.

Non-melanoma skin cancer deaths are rare and account for less than 1% of all cancer deaths in the UK at just 720 each year.

The number of skin cancers has increased over the past decade in both the UK and the US.

Chemotherapy cream, like other cancer treatments, can cause side effects, although they are not seen in all patients.

Whether a chemotherapy patient experiences side effects from treatment may depend on the specific drug or medications they are taking.

Many side effects of chemotherapy are also treatable or preventable, and most stop when treatment is finished.