Teddi Mellencamp Reveals Immunotherapy Isn’t Working – May Need Skin Graft for Melanoma
Former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Teddi Mellencamp said the treatment for her latest bout with melanoma doesn’t seem to be working.
Mellencamp has had several encounters with skin cancer over the past few years, usually having the suspicious areas removed and needing no further treatment. However, during the last check, doctors found a new skin cancer and couldn’t achieve clean margins after surgery.
Mellencamp shared on social media that she would be using immunotherapy to treat the area, but if it didn’t work, she would need a complete skin graft.
During a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Mellencamp said so far the treatment doesn’t seem to be working.
Teddi Mellencamp may need more surgery for her melanoma
WWHL host Andy Cohen asked Mellencamp how she was doing. “I am OK,” she said on the WWHL After Show. “I am on my 13th [melanoma]. The 13th one came back and my margins aren’t clear. Which means … it’s the first time that’s happened.”
“Now I’ve started an immunotherapy cream,” she continued. “And if that doesn’t work – which as of now I’m two weeks in and it hasn’t worked. Then they would do a skin graft from my lower abdomen and take the skin from there and put it in my back.”
Mellencamp also revealed what her melanoma looked like when she saw a photo of herself from 2018. “I saw for the first time what was happening,” she said. “I always had a white spot on my back. But there was a time, maybe after I had baby Dove, where the spots were red.”
“Like bright red,” she emphasized. “The white spots turned red. And that’s when the change, I think, started happening.”
Kyle Richards, who was also a guest on WWHL said she had noticed something from when Mellencamp joined the show. “I said, you gotta have that looked at. And I literally had to drive her …” Richards said.
Teddi Mellencamp has been very open about her melanoma battle
From the first diagnosis, Mellencamp has documented her skin cancer battle on social media. She posted an update in 2022 along with a photo of her scarred back.
“Finally here with another melanoma update, and it’s one I’m happy to share,” she wrote. “Pathology is back— the surgeries were successful and the margins are clear. I also got genetic testing results and there are no mutations we need to worry about. And I just had a healthy mammogram (please don’t forgo these either, ladies). So I say peace out to 11 melanomas and 3 lymph nodes— I gladly hardly knew ya— and hello to a new sense of peace. It’s been eye-opening how quickly things can change and it’s a lesson I will never forget, nor quit speaking up about. I want nothing more than for all of you to be proactive so you do not have to experience this. Let my scars be your inspiration to get preventative care.”
“I will now continue to get checked every 4-6 weeks, as my doc says this may be a record number in one area. You guys know I’m competitive but this is one record I’m not looking to beat,” she joked.
