White Lotus star Michelle Monaghan wasn't aware of skin cancer until she had it: Signs of melanoma that led to her diagnosis

Michelle Monaghan was almost unaware of skin cancer until she was diagnosed with it. “I didn’t know it even existed,” the White Lotus star told Refinery 29 in 2023. Today, the 49-year-old actor is a skin cancer prevention advocate and has called on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enforce rules against cancer-causing tanning beds.

Manoghan, who grew up in Iowa, working in fields throughout the summer, and often skipping sunscreen, knew little about how dangerous tanning beds she regularly used. She had a mole, a little smaller than my pinky nail, on the back of my left calf, but she hardly paid attention to it. She was unaware of changing moles, let alone skin cancer.

In 2007, when her husband noticed that her mole changed, she was surprised. Upon inspection, she found that the mole looked darker in some places and it had an uneven border. “Had my husband not noticed it’s sudden irregularity, it would have gone unchecked,” the actress wrote on Instagram.
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Her husband, who is an Australian was well-informed about the dangers of sun and told her that he felt it was skin cancer. Monaghan, however, ignored it for a year. Later when she consulted a dermatologist, they carried out a biopsy, and the results said she had melanoma'.

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“This is my melanoma scar. I never imagined in a million years I would be a skin cancer survivor, but here I am. Grateful. Despite the large scar, my malignant mole was about the size of a pencil eraser,” she adds.

What is melanoma?

Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that develops when melanocytes (the cells that give the skin its tan or brown color) start to grow out of control. According to American Cancer Society, melanoma is much less common, compared to other types of skin cancers.

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States, CDC notes. The NHS says that the main cause of melanoma is ultraviolet light, which comes from the sun and is used in sunbeds. Though anyone can get skin cancer certain factors put some people at greater risk. The factors include:

• A lighter natural skin color.
  
• Skin that burns, freckles, reddens easily or becomes painful in the sun.
  
• Blue or green eyes.
  
• Blond or red hair.
  
• Certain types and a large number of moles.
  
• A history of sunburns or tanning.
  
• A family history of skin cancer.
  
• A personal history of skin cancer.
  
• Older age
  

What are the signs and symptoms of melanoma?

The major symptoms of melanoma include:

• A new mole or change in an existing mole.
  
• Mole with uneven shapes or edges
  
• Mole with a mix of colors.
  
• Large mole.
  
• Moles that change over time.
  

Most skin cancers are caused by increased exposure to ultraviolet rays, which emerge from the sun, tanning beds, and sun lamps. "To lower your risk of getting skin cancer, you can protect your skin from UV rays from the sun, and avoid artificial sources of UV exposure like tanning beds and sunlamps," the agency says.

CDC also emphasizes making sun protection an 'everyday habit' to lower the skin cancer risk.