Famous fitness guru Richard Simmons announces skin cancer diagnosis - symptoms and treatment explained

Fitness guru Richard Simmons has revealed that he's been diagnosed with cancer.

The popular fitness personality took to social media earlier this week to confirm his diagnosis - before reiterating to his followers that he wasn't dying. He was diagnosed after spotting a blemish under his eye, which didn't go away.

Doctors scraped the area and examined it under a microscope, Simmons explained.

"There was this strange looking bump under my right eye," he said. "I had a tube of neosporin which I would put on I the morning and the evening - it was still there. It was time to call my dermatologist.

"I sat in his chair and he looked at it through a magnifying mirror. He told me he would have to scrape it and put it under the microscope. Now I am getting a little bit nervous. He comes back about 20 minutes later and says the C word. You have cancer.

"I asked him what kind of cancer and he said basal cell carcinoma. I told him to stop calling me dirty names. He laughed."

A basel cell carcinoma is a non-melanoma skin cancer, which starts in the top layer of the skin. According to the NHS, the main cause is ultraviolet light, which comes from the sun and is used in sunbeds. The typical symptoms are unusual patches forming on the skin, particularly on the face, neck, shoulders and legs. Growths can be bumpy, rough or crusty.

Simmons has since undergone some treatment for his cancer - which involved a painful burning of cancerous skin cells.

He said: "When I got home I called Dr Ralph Massey from England - I waited in his waiting room and said hello to all of these people who had skin cancer as well. I was shocked to see all of the skin cancers that they had.

"Some had cancer on top of their heads, their face and their neck.

"He [Dr Massey] explained that he has to burn my skin to remove the cancer cells. There was no numbing it just had to be done with a small instrument. As he started burning my skin a tear dropped down my cheek. You can’t cry during this and he wiped my tear. The burning really hurt my skin. It lasted about 30 minutes."