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Topics: US News, Cancer, Health, Mental Health, TikTok, Social Media
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: US News, Cancer, Health, Mental Health, TikTok, Social Media
A woman has called for more doctors to be on TikTok after one video helped her catch a rare form of skin cancer 'super early'.
In February 2025, Lauren Koltcz, from North Royalton, Ohio, noticed a brown line on her left thumbnail which she'd previously noticed had begun to spread across her entire nail.
Initially believing it must've been caused by a vitamin deficiency, the 45-year-old mom-of-two spoke to a nurse practitioner who mentioned it could be a fungal infection.
The mom tried medication for a fungal infection but 'it didn't do anything'.
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However, when the line began spreading across her nail and becoming thicker, Lauren decided to do some investigating.
With it being 2025 and all that, Lauren took to TikTok to go down a 'rabbit hole' to try and figure out what was going on and stumbled upon one particular video.
She discovered a video created by a dermatologist discussing the issue of brown lines on nails.
In the clip, the dermatologist urged anyone who had found such a line on their nail to seek out the help of a medical professional.
So, Lauren booked in at the Cleveland Clinic and a biopsy was taken of the area.
Cleveland Clinic doctor Allison Vidimos MD noted: "I was concerned because the pigmentation on her nail was very dark, there were different shades of brown, and the spot was wider than 3 millimeters."
The biopsy revealed Lauren had a skin cancer called subungual melanoma.
Lauren said: "I just couldn’t believe it. Everybody knows someone who’s had cancer, and now I was one of them."
Subungual melanoma 'or nail melanoma, is skin cancer under your nail', Cleveland Clinic explains.
It details: "It usually appears as a dark, vertical (top to bottom) streak on your nail. Subungual melanoma is rare but serious. This type of skin cancer - called acral lentiginous melanoma - is an aggressive form of melanoma."
Thankfully, doctors caught Lauren's diagnosis at 'stage zero' - the melanoma located on only the top layer of skin.
"[The doctor] said it was caught super super early, and that if I didn't come in, it wouldn't have been caught," Lauren added.
Lauren underwent surgery to remove the cancer and some surrounding tissue and thankfully didn't have to undergo chemotherapy or radiation.
She has to attend regular follow-ups with a dermatologist but currently shows no evidence of cancer.
"I know a lot of people don't like TikTok, but it made me aware that I should go to the doctor. I think there should be more doctors on there," Lauren reflected before adding: "[...] I just kept thinking, 'How lucky am I that I caught it in time and had such great doctors to treat it?'"
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the American Cancer Society on 1-800-227-2345 or via their live chat feature, available 24/7 every day of the year.