When you head off to the salon, you expect to return with a killer new 'do, right? But how about a skin cancer screening? For former Ohio-based WKYC-TV health correspondent Eileen Korey, her monthly trip to her hairstylist ended up saving her life.
Every month or so for the past 15 years, Korey has been going to the same hairstylist, Kari Phillips, to touch up her red roots.
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During her appointment in June, Phillips was tending to the back of Korey's scalp when she noticed a dark, flat mole. "[Hairstylists] can pretty much see the whole entire scalp," Phillips told WKYC Channel 3 News in a video that's resurfacing. Phillips didn't recognize the spot, so she told Korey to go to a dermatologist and have it checked out.
Korey listened to Phillips, and doctors performed a biopsy on the mole. It turned out to be melanoma, but just at the skin level, so it didn't require chemotherapy.
"I would not have seen it," Korey told WKYC. "I wouldn't have felt it because it wasn't raised, there was nothing to feel."
People don't typically think about checking the scalp when it comes to skin cancer, but it's actually an area that you probably don't apply sunscreen to, as Today points out.
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Korey will undergo surgery to remove the mole in a few weeks.
"You bought me time," Korey said of Phillips. "You gave me the gift of life."
"I want people to know melanoma can be on the scalp," she continued. "And number two, how your colorist can save your life."
It's an important reminder, as melanoma is not only the deadliest kind of skin cancer, but also has the highest survival rate if caught early on, like in Korey's case.
