Khloe Kardashian reveals she recently had a tumor removed from her face after visiting a plastic surgeon

Kardashian's doctors told her the spot was precancerous melanoma, a dangerous skin cancer. She said she also had melanoma on her back when she was 19.

• Khloe Kardashian showed photos of a precancerous melanoma she had removed from her cheek.
• Kardashian said she first thought the spot was a stubborn pimple, but got it checked because of her melanoma history.
• Melanoma tends to look like irregular moles or skin spots. Treatment includes surgery and chemotherapy. 

Khloe Kardashian revealed she had unexpected surgery to remove a precancerous tumor on her face, which she initially thought was a difficult-to-treat pimple.

On Tuesday, Kardashian shared a series of posts to her Instagram story, first showing a close-up picture of her cheek.

"After noticing a small bump on my face and assuming it was something as minor as a zit, I decided to get it biopsied 7 months after realizing it was not budging," Kardashian wrote on Instagram.

She went on to say that two dermatologists told her the spot was "incredibly rare for someone my age" and that they instructed her to have another doctor surgically remove it because they believed it to be melanoma, a rare and aggressive type of skin cancer.

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer overall.

Melanoma makes up an estimated 1% of skin cancer diagnoses, according to the American Cancer Society. But melanoma's ability to spread quickly also makes it one of the most fatal skin cancers. A person's risk of getting it increases as they get older, and the average age of diagnosis is 65.

Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Garth Fisher removed and tested the spot, and found out it was precancerous melanoma, a source close to Kardashian told TMZ. 

On her Instagram story, Kardashian also said she had melanoma surgically removed from her back when was 19. 

Melanoma is a rare but often fatal form of skin cancer

In addition to age increasing a person's risk of developing melanoma, fair skin, moles on the skin, and ultraviolet light exposure can be risk factors, according to the American Cancer Society.

If a person's family has a history of skin cancer, or they previously had skin cancer like Kardashian did, that also increases their risk, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.

The sooner a person is diagnosed with melanoma, the more treatment options they have.

That's why looking for signs like new and irregular spots on the skin during regular self-exams is the best prevention method, the American Cancer Society website says.

Symptoms of melanoma

If you notice a skin spot that fits into any of these categories, you should have a doctor check it out:

• Asymmetry: One half of the spot doesn't match the other.
• Border: The edges of the spot are irregular, blurred, notched, or ragged.
• Color: The color varies throughout the spot, with different shades of black, brown, pink, red, white, or blue.
• Diameter: The spot is larger than a pencil eraser.
• Evolving: The spot has changed shape, size, or color.

Other signs to see a doctor include a sore that won't heal, swelling that goes beyond the spot, pain or tenderness, or oozing or bleeding from the spot.

Melanoma treatment

A doctor such as a dermatologist or surgical oncologist will biopsy the spot in question to determine if it's cancerous. If it is, treatment options depend on the stage of the cancer.

Surgery to remove the entire tumor is the most common option, according to the American Cancer Society. Other treatments include immunotherapy with medications, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy.