Tim Allen reveals skin cancer diagnosis that was 'missed by doctor five times'

Tim Allen has said that his skin cancer diagnosis was missed five times by his doctor as was spotted by someone unlikely.

He appeared on the Club Random podcast and told Bill Maher that it was 'missed five times' before a 'lady at The Today Show noticed it' and told him she'd seen he hadn't 'done anything yet'.

Allen had regular check ups with a dermatologist which hadn't flagged up an issue, but for his next appointment he did decide to bring up what the woman working on The Today Show had identified as a concern.

The actor recounted that he said 'Hey, doc, would you take a look at this thing on my nose?' and knew something was wrong when they put on their glasses to see better 'for the first time in 30 years'.

"Then he looks at my nose, and he goes, “Oh s**t, s**t. Janice, get Paul in here, and my lawyer," Allen recounted as he explained that the doctor admitted he 'screwed up' and that he had either melanoma or carcinoma, which Allen claims the medic had 'missed five times'.

He said his doctor missed the skin cancer 'five times' and he only asked for it to be looked at after a woman working for The Today Show pointed it out (Raymond Liu/Disney via Getty Images)

The Toy Story star was then sent to another doctor to have it removed and was told by them that they were 'going to have to cut most of your nose off'.

Given that he's an actor and comedian, Allen didn't want that and appealed for him to keep at least some of his nose.

He said: "I go, 'Let me explain what I do for a living. Unless I’m gonna do a Blazing Saddles with the guy with the silver nose, you have to leave some of my f**king nose on so I can do comedy without doing 20 minutes on having no nose!'"

Fortunately for him the Club Random host Maher said that the surgery was 'undetectable' and the actor admitted that 'the surgeon was good'.

He said he knew something was wrong when his dermatologist put his glasses on for a closer look (Nic Antaya/Getty Images)

Signs of skin cancer

The NHS says there are multiple types of skin cancer, they are melanoma and non-melanoma.

Non-melanoma skin cancer is more common and less dangerous but both types have warning signs that will require a trip to the doctor to verify.

The main symptom of non-melanoma skin cancer is an unusual growth or patch appearing on the skin, this can happen anywhere but is most common in parts of the body exposed to the sun.

For melanoma skin cancer the sign is typically a new mole on your body or a change to an existing mole, once again this can be anywhere on the body but most often occurs on a part exposed to the sun.