A woman who thought a spot under her eye was just ‘problem skin’ has revealed the terrifying moment she discovered she had cancer.
Jessica Zbinden-Webster from London, was at work in the House of Commons, when a swelling under her eye suddenly burst.
Mortified, Jessica went to the GP and was immediately diagnosed with skin cancer at the age of 26.
‘The doctor took one look at me and said “Yeah, that’s skin cancer”,’ Jessica, now 33, told Femail.
‘He could tell pretty much instantly that it was basal cell carcinoma, which is the most common type of skin cancer.
‘What he couldn’t tell was that it was actually an infiltrative tumour and, despite looking innocuous on the surface, it was growing under my skin like the roots of a tree,’ Jessica, who used to work as a communications officer in Parliament, said.
When Jessica went for surgery a couple of months later, the surgeon removed the whole of her lower eyelid because the tumour was so widespread.
Young, healthy, and having never used sunbeds, the advancement of her cancer made Jessica an unusual case.
Campaigner Jessica Zbinden-Webster, 33, from London, was diagnosed with skin cancer at the age of 26
However, the sun damage that made Jessica ill during childhood was to blame.
Now a full-time cancer awareness advocate, she is urging the government to reconsider taxing sunscreen as a ‘luxury item’ in a letter signed by prominent political figures.
‘I was out all the time playing, and I used to get horribly sunburnt because I’m fair.
‘Now I know that just one blistering sunburn in childhood and adolescence can double your chances of getting skin cancer in adulthood.’
Before she was diagnosed, Jessica thought looked like a blocked pore underneath her right eye.
She thought it an unusual place but shrugged it off as a continuation of skin issues that she’d experienced during her late teens and early 20s.
‘I put it to the back of my mind, but the lesion persisted – it got worse, it got bigger.
‘I still minimised it because, to my uninformed understanding, I thought that if a lesion wasn’t itching or painful then it couldn’t possibly be harmful.
‘Now I know that’s not true.’
Within two months, Jessica was on the operating table, and her treatment took place over two consecutive days.
She had Mohs surgery to remove the skin around the tumour, and doctors tested in real-time whether the margins of the tumour had all gone. ‘That was done under local anaesthetic,’ said Jessica.
Jessica is campaigning to remove the 20 per cent tax on sunscreen, which is currently classed as a luxury or cosmetic product
‘So, while it’s an amazing service provided by the NHS, it’s really unpleasant and very claustrophobic.’
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The following day, Jessica went in for a skin graft.
Because she had lost so much tissue, doctors took skin from her inner arm to cover the hole left by the tumour.
Within 48 hours, she went from having a cancerous tumour in a very precarious area to being cancer-free.
‘While I am so grateful that the cancer was gone so quickly, the aftercare and recovery was actually much longer and is still ongoing seven years later,’ she said.
As they heal, skin grafts begin to fuse with the blood supply and the area that they’ve been grafted to.
Jessica explained that while the graft is undergoing the healing process, it reddens, raises, contracts, crusts and can distort the surrounding features.
‘If the skin around your eye contracts too much, which it did in my case, it can affect your eye function,’ Jessica said.
Since her initial treatment, Jessica has had four laser surgeries over the years to make the grafted skin function properly.
Once the tumour under her eye was removed, skin was taken from Jessica’s inner arm and grafted onto the affected site (pictured during treatment)
She said, ‘I still have to massage my skin graft every day. It’s still bumpy. It will never be how it was originally – it’s something I have to live with.
‘But as a campaigner for skin cancer, it’s helpful to look in the mirror and see the skin graft because it’s a daily reminder of why I’m doing what I’m doing.’
Today, Jessica has launched an open letter calling for an end to the 20 per cent ‘luxury’ tax on sunscreen.
Sunscreen is VAT-rated at the full amount and classed as a luxury or cosmetic product for taxation purposes.
The letter, backed by influential figures such as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey, urges the government to reclassify sunscreen as an essential healthcare item.
This will change its status in the public eye and, crucially, make the essential product more affordable.
Other signatories include charities such as the British Skin Foundation, Young Lives vs Cancer and Melanoma Focus, alongside a chorus of Britain’s leading dermatologists, GPs and public figures.
‘Sunscreen’s current classification contradicts dermatologists’ advice to wear it every day,’ Jessica said.
The skin cancer campaigner said that, even after seven years and six surgeries, her eye has still not fully recovered
She continued, ‘It’s also contradicted by the fact that it can be prescribed for free for people with photosensitivity.
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‘And taxing sunscreen as a luxury sends a harmful message about the importance of sun safety to public health – it makes consumers view it as optional rather than essential.’
Babies and children’s sunscreens are also taxed in the same way and classed as luxury products.
‘It’s particularly incumbent on us as parents, as adults, to protect our children’s skin,’ Jessica said.
‘The same damage that’s done in childhood bears huge relevance to outcomes later in life.’
Since the early 1990s, non-melanoma skin cancer incidence rates have increased by more than two-and-a-half times in the UK, according to Cancer Research.
However, the disease can be preventable via sun-safe measures, such as wearing sunscreen, taking shade, and covering up.
Additionally, there are harmful misconceptions, Jessica believes, about who skin cancer can affect.
Jessica is now a full time campaigner, having decided to use her experience to improve outcomes for others
‘People think the stereotypical skin cancer patient is a septuagenarian [a person who is between 70 and 79 years old] who has been sunbaking for decades,’ she said.
‘Actually, in practice, that’s not the case. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.’
Jessica had no family history of skin cancer when she was diagnosed. She said, ‘My parents were devastated when they learnt I had it in my 20s.
‘I’m really delighted that they’re taking their sun safety more seriously now.
‘That’s a pattern I’ve been seeing across my friends and family because of what I went through and how gruesome it was – skin grafts are not pretty.’
A self-described ‘sunscreen nerd’, Jessica rotates products but is currently between SKIN|CYCLES Lumina Shield and La Roche-Posay’s Anthelios spray.
And she echoes the dermatologists’ adage: the best sunscreen is the one you’ll use regularly.
Sunscreen is the best sun safety measure because it is compatible with modern life and allows people to enjoy hot weather.
The open letter from the Axe The SPF Tax campaign (pictured) launches today and has been signed by influential politicians such as Nigel Farage and Sir Ed Davey
‘Britain’s skin cancer rates are a public health crisis,’ said Jessica. ‘We can’t treat the disease by taxing its solution.
She said, ‘This Skin Cancer Awareness Month, I’m urging the Chancellor to scrap the “luxury” tax on sunscreen products. It won’t just save consumers’ and NHS money – it will save lives.
‘My diagnosis and surgery both took place in 2018, which is quite a while ago now, and I think I tried to outrun the experience.
‘I tried to carry it behind me because I wanted to leave it in the past. But actually, that didn’t work for me.
‘I wanted to turn that experience into something that improved outcomes for other people and turn the negative into a positive. And this, taking action, sits much better with me.’