Eric Dane Reveals His Major Skin Scare

USA Today
Posted: 2008-02-06 16:16:58
Filed Under: TV News
(Feb. 6) -- For Grey's Anatomy's Eric Dane, the break in production because of the writers' strike could not have come at a better time.

Dane, 35, realized he needed to see a dermatologist after the new year when he spotted what looked like chapped lips in the mirror, he tells OK! magazine in its next issue, out this week.

Because of the strike, he was able to schedule a doctor's visit right away. "I asked (the dermatologist) what it was, and he said it was malignant tissue caused by sun damage. … I grew up in California. I spent a lot of time skiing and a lot of time surfing, and before you realize how important sunblock is, it is too late."

USA Today Headlines

Dane says the doctor burned off the malignancy with liquid nitrogen. "After they burn it off," he tells OK!, "you get a cream. The cream, if you put it on any kind of malignant tissue or cell growth, will eradicate it."

But the treatment wasn't easy. "I had a really severe reaction to the cream," says Dane, whose lips were traumatized by the treatments. "I didn't eat very well for a couple of weeks and lost a bunch of weight. That was kind of tough, but if that's the trade-off, that's fine."

Dane still managed to walk the red carpet with his wife, Rebecca Gayheart, 36, at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Jan. 27. And he says he probably should have used sunscreen more often as a child. "This is probably something that happened so long ago," he says. "I wasn't so vigilant then. I am now. And I think everybody should be."



Photo Gallery

Arnold Turner, Wire Image

Celebrity Health Scares

1 of 36    

Grammy-winning singer Natalie Cole was diagnosed with hepatitis C in July. A statement released by her publicist said that the disease was likely caused by her drug use years ago. "I am committed...to meet this challenge," Cole said.



Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. All Rights Reserved.
2008-02-06 09:42:49
Bookmark

Recent Comments

1 - 15 of 66
66 comments

mboland852 05:56:21 AM Feb 07 2008

jiggzupp...aren't you up way past your bedtime?

dsskorepa 05:38:15 AM Feb 07 2008

Cancer at any stage and in any form is NOT a joke. He's very fortunate it was caught and treated early. Some of you people need to stop reading AOL news if all you can do is make fun of the people you are so eager to read about.

jiggzup559 04:59:57 AM Feb 07 2008

You gotta love the media! Greys Anatomy stars battle with cancer! LOL! He had a little cancerous bump on his lip that wasn't even surgically removed, it was removed with liquid nitrogen - the same crap they use to numb you before a novacaine!! And he lost weight because he didn't so much like the cream..

What a big baby! These "stars" are so self centered its amazing any of them are still able to wipe their own butts anymore! CRY ME A RIVER BUDDY! BOO HOO!!

tmjudkins1 03:45:35 AM Feb 07 2008

Instead of wasting your time and health with dangerous cancer drugs and radiation...antiquated medicine from the 60s, that kills more than it cures, try chlorine dioxide, which is safe and effective against any pathogen. Chlorine dioxide is capable of defeating malaria with just 2 doses...most people are feeling better within hours and are usually totally well in 24 hours. Chlorine dioxide is cheap, $20 worth will last years.
Chlorine dioxide will oxidize anything in the body that has a different pH than normal (7.2 to 7.4 pH)...all pathogens have a different pH than the human body so they are attacked, attracted to each other because of the need for an electron exchange, followed by an explosion of the chlorine dioxide ion when it touches the pathogen and then the pathogen is oxidized and carried out of the body. Chlorine dioxide doesn't combine with other chemicals when it breaks down, it turns into table salt, harmless to the body. Regular chlorine combines with other chemicals an

Lost1sself 03:45:00 AM Feb 07 2008

Story is cut for me

pupmobile 03:40:34 AM Feb 07 2008

If smellyolddog is a Doctor then we are all from Mars! What an idiot!

eastadam 01:45:49 AM Feb 07 2008

Does any one alse have aol's "feed" of other story cutting of parts of the story?

sigmachiswt88 12:07:47 AM Feb 07 2008

Ten pounds? You could do that with a good bout of beer craps...give me a break.

sigmachiswt88 12:07:14 AM Feb 07 2008

Ten pounds? You could do that with a good bout of beer *****...give me a break.

kberk05 11:13:32 PM Feb 06 2008

I am a resident of Mars. I also am a doctor.

kberk05 11:12:24 PM Feb 06 2008

The writers on AOL are a joke!

pkel43 11:03:20 PM Feb 06 2008

These "Hollywoodenheads" would set them selves on fire to get some press! Down here in Florida almost every white person is vulnerable to some kind of skin cancer. If all they did was zap it with liquid nitrogen he got off lucky. I have had a few dug out of my face, burned off, chemically removed, frozen off and cut off! And weight loss? He is crying because he lost 10lbs? hell, I lost 40 lbs when i had Lymphoma, and my hair went with it! Suck it up and deal with it "Doc"!

cookiwafer 10:53:04 PM Feb 06 2008

"Treatment Caused Scary Weightloss" is what the title said, so clicked to this. Then realized on Entertainment tonight they said he lost only 10 lbs. Man, i wish if I lost 10 lbs they's say, "Scary weightloss." not.

diny7 10:51:59 PM Feb 06 2008

Ibjam..
You are misinformed.
Benign means "not cancerous"...what you may be confusing it with is that the word "tumor" means growth and can mean benign growth and not a cancer. For example, a pimple is technically a tumor.
I am not a doctor, but I play one on TV LOL...seriously, I work in Medicine and wanted to clear that up before folks read what you wrote and get scared for no reason.
Thanks

nutty4u23434 10:28:13 PM Feb 06 2008

The benefit of actors putting problems like this in the public eye is the fact of public awareness. NO cancer is a cancer anyone wants to mess with. I was a practicing practical nurse and when my brother told me he had Hodgkins Disease, I freaked! Luckily he is now in remission, but no one knows how long that will last. Also, he wasn't feeling poorly, just happened to have made an appiontment for a physical just after his 50th birthday...he was lucky it was caught before he was actually showing symptoms! It's good to have these blogs in order that people who read them and take the right things seriously will seek help before it is too late! (ok, I know, run on sentences, but English grammer wasn't my best subject!)

1 - 15 of 66
66 comments

Add your own Comments

Photos: Out and About

Fame Pictures

Suri on the Set: TomKat took their little cub to Katie's new TV gig. What show is Mrs. Cruise guesting on?