I thought the little brown dot on my face was a sign of ageing – then I was diagnosed with cancer

A mother-of-three is urging others to be diligent with skin checks after a small brown spot on her cheek turned out to be cancerous.

Catherine Smartt’s life was turned upside down after she was diagnosed with stage 1 skin cancer on January 29.

The 40-year-old from Geelong told FEMAIL she first noticed “two small dots” in October 2022, which resembled a “pigmentation spot”. When she became pregnant in January 2023, doctors initially thought the speck was due to “hormonal changes.”

But over time it changed and got bigger, but it didn’t look like a ‘cliché’ melanoma – it wasn’t dark, there was no lump and the texture felt ‘rough’.

During her pregnancy last year, she regularly watched The Kardashians and coincidentally, Khloe talked about her own melanoma, prompting Catherine to be more alert.

For two years, she filmed herself applying lipstick in the car almost every day, subconsciously documenting the skin’s changes.

“I had other spots on my face that looked the same, so there was no indication it was cancer,” she said.

After giving birth in October, she was aware that it is “very common” for the skin to change significantly.

“I thought to myself, ‘It’s because I’m pregnant, don’t worry about it,'” she explained

And while spending time at home, she watched The Kardashians and ironically, Khloe Kardashian talked about her “skin cancer journey.”

At the time, the TV personality was diagnosed with skin cancer and showed images of what the cancer spot looked like – and Catherine was surprised by what she saw as it looked ‘just like hers’.

“I was fortunate enough to monitor my face daily, and I was made aware that not all skin cancers look like moles,” she said.

“After I had the baby, I expected it to calm down, but it didn’t.”

Two months later she went to the doctor for a pregnancy issue and asked about the dot. The doctor was immediately concerned about how it looked and performed the biopsy.

“Thank God I chose to have it checked out. I was tired of having to hide it, but what if I had accepted it or said, ‘This is 40, this is normal,'” Catherine said.

“As mothers, you can’t show your children that you’re scared or that something is wrong. You have to be strong for them.’

Catherine’s mother had stage 4 melanoma when she was in primary school and thankfully she is still here.

But Catherine remembers being “scared” and doesn’t want her children to experience the same level of fear or worry.

“It was good news because it was found early,” she said. But the next day her oldest child went to school, so she had to compartmentalize and push her aside.

‘I had to put everything I had to worry about aside and focus on being a parent. It was such a huge week,” she said.

When she got home, she felt ‘numb’ and told her husband and family. Over the next few hours, she met with a surgeon.

Catherine had surgery to remove the area and surrounding tissue, but had to go back within a week because the surgeon was ‘not satisfied’ that he had removed enough tissue.

‘It was a big shock when I realized how big the incision they had to make was. At the time I thought, “but it’s so small and they have to remove so much,” she said. And that was more shocking than the diagnosis.

The pain after the operation was “unbearable” and she compared it to “being chopped in the face with an axe.” Now she has a diagonal scar that extends from the inner corner of her eye to her mouth.

‘I especially liked how my lips looked and now they are not symmetrical – I no longer recognize myself in the mirror. There was also a risk that my eye would droop if they pulled too much,” she said.

“When I touch it, it doesn’t feel like my own face.”

One of her ‘lowest moments’ during the whole ordeal occurred after the operation, when Catherine reflected on what the outcome would have been had she not asked for doctors to examine the sinister speck.

‘It’s crazy to think what would have happened if I hadn’t done this. The thought of my children being without a mother really hits hard,” she said.

‘I think I would have reacted very differently to this if I was twenty than I do now in my forties. You have to put on a brave face when you’re raising little people, and you have to be there for them.

‘The Australian sun is so deadly and our skin can’t cope with it.’

She now undergoes a full skin check and blood test every few months, and will continue to do so for the rest of her life.

After the dilemma, Catherine has less self-confidence and wants to ‘hide from the world’ as she hunts for the operation.

In public, she looks down a lot, wears large sunglasses and hats to cover the bandages on her face.

‘I stay home quite a bit because I don’t want to go out. But I’m looking forward to the day when I can put on makeup again. I miss being able to be myself, making my lipstick videos and trying new beauty products,” she said.

Now Catherine is on a mission to educate others about what skin cancer can look like — and how skin cancer doesn’t always look like an “ugly, black mole.”

“Prioritize your health just as you would your children. It’s so easy as mothers to get carried away from day to day when you are just as important,” she said.

‘You children will miss you if you don’t take care of yourself, the consequences are enormous. Therefore, have your skin checked and cared for.

“This is not something to take lightly. It is primarily a life or death situation. What’s the harm in having something checked? It’s better to know sooner rather than later.’

Cancer Council recommends applying sunscreen 20 minutes before going outside and then reapplying every two hours.