Woman Shares Graphic Photos of Her Skin Cancer to Raise Awareness

Well, this is sobering. 

Self reports on Judy Cloud, a 49-year-old mother of two who spent a lot of time in the sun as a child and visited tanning beds in her 20s, and is now fighting a long battle with skin cancer. 

Cloud first found out about the cancer when visiting a dermatologist in 1995 to get a scab checked out. Turns out, the scab was skin cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States.​ It usually forms in places that has been exposed to ultraviolet radiation from the sun or tanning beds. 

So far, Cloud has had two of the four surgeries necessary to remove basal cell carcinoma spots. 

From Self:

Cloud's latest surgery in September lasted three hours and was her most invasive to date, with doctors removing 23 spots of skin cancer found on her face, chest, arms, and legs. Doctors had to cut into a muscle in her mouth and move a nerve in her head to remove the cancer. She couldn't move or eat whole foods for two weeks after the surgery, and now, five months later, she still hasn't regained feeling in her left cheek or from her forehead up to her scalp.​

She's now posting photos of her before and after on Facebook. She says she's sharing these pictures to raise awareness. "I never thought I would show myself on Facebook without makeup on let alone without makeup on and looking so injured. But, I'm old enough now to know this is needed," she said.

[facebook ]https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204679351494302&set=pb.1551401203.-2207520000.1457285973.&type=3&theater" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share">​

[facebook ]https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204679351254296&set=pb.1551401203.-2207520000.1457285973.&type=3&theater" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share">​

[facebook ]https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204679350694282&set=pb.1551401203.-2207520000.1457285973.&type=3&theater" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share">​

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