Woman says she felt ‘pretty good’ after surgery to remove cancerous mole from her face – until she took the bandage off (Exclusive)

HE NEEDS TO KNOW

• Daniela Mullins took a full-body scan as she and her dermatologist figured out her postpartum skin

• When her dermatologist saw the mole on her face, they decided to take a closer look

• Mullins was later diagnosed with stage 0 skin cancer, also known as carcinoma in situ

Daniela Mullins was having skin problems after giving birth to her daughter and decided to go to a new dermatologist for regular check-ins.

When she went for a full-body scan in April 2025, her dermatologist took note of the mole on her face, which Mullins tells PEOPLE she first noticed around June 2015.

To the naked eye, Mullins, 34, says the mole looked “normal,” but her doctor felt differently.

“I didn’t notice my mole changing at all. It wasn’t until this whole diagnosis, it all happened, that I went back and looked at the pictures and realized how much it had changed,” the Virginia resident shares with PEOPLE.

Because Mullins was recently postpartum, her dermatologist decided to wait six months before doing a biopsy.

On October 24, 2025, Mullins finally went in for the medical procedure, and a week later, he learned he had melanoma. She was diagnosed with stage 0 skin cancer, or carcinoma in situ, meaning the cancer was above the skin and had not yet spread.

Just before Thanksgiving, he underwent surgery to remove the mole and the surrounding area.

“If it wasn’t for that skin check I scheduled, I don’t know when I would have realized I had melanoma on my face,” she says, noting that she’s seen several dermatologists in the past, and no one has ever raised concerns about the mole.

After the surgery, Mullins says he felt “pretty good” — until he took off his bandages.

“Two days after I took the bandage off from the procedure, that’s when it hit me,” she says. “Before then, it was just a diagnosis on paper, and even during the procedure, I wasn’t worried or scared or anything.”

“Once I saw the impact on my face, it hit me, and it wasn’t because of the aesthetics. It just became real. It was a tangible thing,” shares Mullins.

While the mole was just a small dot on her face, the incision spanned almost her entire cheek, as doctors often remove the area around the lesion in hopes of removing as much of the cancer as possible.

Her scar will take a full year to heal, but in the meantime, her doctor recommended “time, patience and petroleum jelly.”

“He said, ‘Give it time. Let your body do what it needs to do,'” she says.

However, Mullins stresses that she is less concerned about the scar and more focused on her health.

“My number one priority was to get this cancer out of me and move on,” she tells PEOPLE. “It’s important to remember that some people care and that’s okay; and that’s valid. I don’t want my experience and ‘ugly scar’ to scare people away from getting skin checks.”

Going forward, she’ll get full-body scans every four months, something she’ll likely have to stay on top of for the rest of her life.

“Because this one came up, I have a better chance of developing another one now. Luckily, because it was caught at Stage 0, I don’t need additional treatment. So it’s not like I need chemo,” she says. “Now I’m taking care of my scar right now, making sure it stays hydrated and making sure the rest of my body … I’m trying to notice any changes I might have in my moles and be more aware of my skin.”

Mullins “randomly” decided to share her health journey on TikTok, which “took off and resonated with people.” Since then, she has become an advocate for regular skin checks.

“I continued to share my journey, especially after I found out I could get skin cancer. I’m Latina and my parents are both from Peru. I didn’t think this would ever be a cancer I could get,” she admits. “I wasn’t taught that I could get that. I thought it was really eye-opening and important for other people to know that.”

While some users were shocked by the size of Mullins’ scar, others reminded her that “the scar is a lifeline” and that “I’d rather have a scar than cancer.”

As for anyone who might find themselves in a similar position, Mullins says to “take it one step at a time.”

“Follow what your doctor says, because it’s easy to Google, [go] on TikTok and spiral, but just go with your doctor’s advice and take it one step at a time,” she tells PEOPLE. “It’s a lot to process, and it’s not something to be ashamed of or afraid of alone.”

“If you have a support system, really lean on it, because I don’t think I would have been able to muster the strength without it,” adds Mullins.

Her diagnosis motivated her to focus on her health in 2026 and beyond.

“Since this diagnosis, now I’m like, okay, I need to check my other things that I’ve been neglecting, because when you’re a mom, you put yourself last. It’s easy to fall behind on things, but I’ve scheduled everything I need to schedule and I’m getting everything checked, a little at a time,” she says.

“I try to be more proactive than having to deal with the consequences of putting things off.”

Read the original article on People