After a five-week immunotherapy program proved unsuccessful, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Teddi Mellencamp reveals she went under the knife for a major surgery as part of her ongoing melanoma battle.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Teddi Mellencamp is keeping fans abreast of the latest developments in her skin cancer battle, continuing to share the latest treatments she’s trying and even graphically uncomfortable images of her progress.
It’s all in an effort to not only keep them informed since her melanoma diagnosis in October 2022, abut also — as she concludes her latest update — to encourage her fans to “please get your skin checked. I promise you do not want to go through this.”
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The latest “this” for Mellencamp was a pretty serious surgery, after five weeks of immunotherapy proved ineffective. the reality star showed her shoulder as it was before she went in for surgery.
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Accompanying this latest slideshow on Instagram, Mellencamp explained that what she had done was a “wide excision melanoma, soft tissue defect reconstruction with adjacent tissue rearrangement.”
She then translated that into layman’s terms for the rest of us, adding, “Basically they cut out the area of my shoulder and replaced it with a flap of skin from below on my back.”
The good news is that the “surgery went well,” while Mellencamp saying that “the pain and discomfort are all worth it.” She then thanked her fans and followers for all of their support.
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Among those offering wellwishes in the comments are fellow Real Housewives Dorit Kemsley, who penned, “You’re one tough cookie. Sending love and prayers for a speedy recovery. 🙏🏼🤍”
Melissa Gorga also commented, writing, “Stay strong girlfriend. Always rooting for you!” Meanwhile, Cynthia Bailey added, “wishing you so much love & a speedy recovery my friend! love u!❤️🙏🏽❤️”
Dr. Nicole Martin wrote, “Wishing you a smooth and speedy recovery 🙏🏻❤️,” while Adriana de Moura commented, “Sending you love and prayers 🙏❤️”
After the surgery, Mellencamp shared an extremely graphic image of her post-op shoulder, which you can see on her Instagram Stories here and side-by-side with her pre-op pic below. She captioned it, “F Off Cancer.” Her sister Justice also shared the same image with a note that Teddi “will beat this!”
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Mellencamp first opened up about her skin cancer journey back in March 2022 after Kyle Richards encouraged her to go in to get a mole on her back checked after it had changed color.
In October 2022, she revealed she’d been diagnosed with stage two melanoma. This was followed by a surgery that removed her lymph nodes and some of the cancer. Unfortunately, more spots were being discovered, with Mellencamp saying she’d been checked more than a dozen times by September 2023.
It was at this point she tried the immunotherapy treatment, though she almost immediately shared that early results weren’t looking promising. On December 19, she shared on Instagram that the treatment had been unsuccessful.
With such a large area now addressed in her latest surgery, Mellencamp was hopeful heading into the surgery that she might have a chance at being cancer clear on the other side, “and then just keep getting my checks every three months.”
