Hugh Jackman urges vigilance after skin cancer find

HUGH Jackman has revealed he has been treated for skin cancer, posting a picture of himself with a plaster on his nose.

Hugh Jackman

AUSTRALIAN actor Hugh Jackman has revealed he has been treated for skin cancer, posting a picture of himself with a plaster on his nose.

The Oscar-nominated Hollywood star warned Twitter followers to have suspicious marks checked and to use sunscreen.

"Deb said to get the mark on my nose checked," he wrote on his Twitter account, referring to his wife Deborra-Lee Furness.

"Boy, was she right! I had a basil (sic) cell carcinoma. Please don't be foolish like me. Get yourself checked. And USE sunscreen!!!" he wrote, with a link to an Instagram picture of himself.

He did not explicitly say that he had had it removed, or when it was diagnosed. A spokesman, Alan Nierob, gave no other details, apart from the Twitter post.

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common form of skin cancer, with over 2 million cases diagnosed in the United States every year, according to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD).

It usually develops on skin exposed to the sun such as the head, neck and back of hands, but is especially common on the face and nose. People who use tanning beds have a much higher risk of getting it.

"This type of skin cancer grows slowly. It rarely spreads to other parts of the body," said the AAD on its website, adding that treatment is "important because BCC can grow wide and deep, destroying skin tissue and bone."

A 2005 study in the Medical Journal of Australia recommended health services be prepared for a spike in people wanting to get tested after a celebrity discloses an illness. The so-called "Kylie effect" was noticed after singer Kylie Minogue was diagnosed with breast cancer in that year.

"Overall screening bookings rose 40 per cent in the two weeks of the publicity, with a 101 per cent increase in non-screened women in the eligible age-group 40–69 years. Six weeks after the publicity, bookings remained more than a third higher in non-screened women," the report said.

Jackman, known for his roles in the "X-Men" blockbusters and this year's "The Wolverine," was nominated for an Academy Award for last year's musical adaptation of "Les Miserables."

AFP