Comedian Katherine Ryan gives fans a health update after being diagnosed with skin cancer for second time

The star told her fans earlier this month that she had discovered a cancerous mole on her arm and doctors had diagnosed her with melanoma for a second time.

Ryan underwent a private procedure to remove the mole, and once experts confirmed it was skin cancer she had to have a second surgery to extract more of the surrounding tissue.

On Friday, March 28, the mum-of-three took to Instagram to give an update on her health. On her Stories, she posted a photo of her bandaged arm and captioned the image “done”, accompanied by a tick and red heart emoji.

She added: “This is going so well, by the way, and should heal flat.” In another post, she shared a before-surgery photo of the melanoma, writing: “Here’s a photo of the melanoma (which really does not look like melanoma) in the office before they took it off.”

It was the previous Friday, March 21, when Ryan revealed she had been diagnosed with skin cancer for a second time. The 41-year-old, who is also a writer and a presenter, was first diagnosed with melanoma in her early twenties but told her fans the disease had returned.

She explained that she raised concerns over a suspicious mole, but doctors initially told her that everything was "totally fine" before she received her second diagnosis.

Speaking on her 'Telling Everybody Everything' podcast, she said: "I know you should never Google things but I’m actually really worried. Normally I’m that positive person. I think it’s really easy to take a diagnosis of ‘you’re healthy’ and walk away. But the mole kept changing, I know a lot about melanoma, I had melanoma as a very young woman - aged 21 - on my leg, I’ve spoken about that before.

"It was flat, it wasn’t that big but it was melanoma. It is a deadly form of skin cancer and it does spread quickly. I just thought that this mole wasn’t right. It’s on my arm. I showed pictures of it on my social media. I went in and I wanted the doctor to remove it and stitch it up in a straight line.

"But even when he looked at it, he was like, ‘it’s not melanoma, it’s totally fine, I will do a shave and send it away for testing. And he rang me today and it did come back as melanoma. Early melanoma. The doctor was shocked and told me I need to go back."

The 8 Out of 10 Cats star also worried what could have been had she not been her "own advocate" and continued to seek medical advice. She said: "It just feels crazy to me, what could have happened, if I hadn't been my own advocate - and I will continue to be my own advocate."