Simmons apologized for scaring fans and clarified he wasn't dying Monday. He then revealed he'd been diagnosed with a treatable form of skin cancer.
By Doha Madani
Richard Simmons shared an emotional post Tuesday about the moment he was diagnosed with skin cancer, a concerning update that followed an apology for scaring fans with a post saying he was dying.
The fitness personality said he noticed a blemish under his eye in the mirror one day and decided to speak with a dermatologist after it wouldn’t clear up. The doctor scraped the area and examined the cells under a microscope, Simmons said.
"He comes back about 20 minutes later and says the C word. You have cancer," Simmons wrote. "I asked him what kind of cancer and he said. Basel Cell Carcinoma. I told him to stop calling me dirty names. He laughed."
Basal cell carcinoma is a form of skin cancer that appears most often on areas of the skin that are exposed to the sun, according to the Mayo Clinic. It's most often treated by removing all of the cancerous cells, and it rarely metastasizes, or spreads.
Simmons said he went to a "cancer doctor," Dr. Ralph A. Massey, who informed him he would need a procedure that would burn his skin to remove the cancer cells.
"There was no numbing it just had to be done with a small instrument," Simmons wrote. "As he started burning my skin a tear dropped down my cheek. You can’t cry during this and he wiped my tear."
It lasted about 30 minutes, he said, but he had to go back again because not all of the cells had been removed. Simmons described the second procedure as more painful — "deeper," he wrote.
Richard Simmons attends 2013 LA Gay Pride Festival on June 9, 2013 in West Hollywood, Calif.Rodrigo Vaz / Getty Images file
Simmons posted a follow-up Wednesday that the issue was resolved after a third procedure and that he doesn’t even have a scar. He went on to say that his cancer experience is "nothing" compared to stories of his own friends.
"I know some of you reading this have had cancer or have known someone in your life who has had cancer," he wrote Wednesday. "Promise me you will see your doctor and get a complete check up."
His posts don’t provide details about when it occurred. Representatives for Simmons didn’t immediately respond to a request for additional details.
Simmons' skin cancer reveal came just a day after he told fans that he "had some news" and that he was dying.
"Oh I can see your faces now. The truth is we all are dying," he wrote at the time. "Every day we live we are getting closer to our death."
He later apologized to fans for upsetting them with the post.
"I am not dying," he clarified. "It was a message about saying how we should embrace every day that we have. Sorry for this confusion."
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