A young woman who initially thought a small mark was just a “blocked pore” ended up needing her entire lower eyelid removed after being diagnosed with skin cancer immediately at her appointment.
Jessica Zbinden-Webster was 26 when she was given the news, and she’s now pushing for the UK to remove VAT from SPF products to make sun protection more affordable.
Speaking on ITV’s This Morning with hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley on May 19, Jessica explained she’d dealt with skin issues for years. So when she spotted what looked like a blemish that later became a raised bump, she didn’t initially fear the worst.
That changed when the area began bleeding heavily while she was at work. She booked a GP appointment for the following day and said she was given a diagnosis straight away.
“You’ve got skin cancer, and we need to urgently refer you for treatment,” she was told.
The cancer was located on her lower eyelid, an especially delicate area to treat. Doctors therefore had to remove the affected lower eyelid tissue using a scalpel while she was awake.
“They took away the skin that was affected by the tumor, and they also took a margin of skin around it, just to be super sure that the cancer was gone,” she told the ITV hosts.
The day after the removal, Jessica underwent a skin graft, with skin taken from her lower arm to repair the area left behind.
Recovery was difficult, and Jessica said her vision was impacted because the graft tightened as it healed, pulling her eye downward slightly.
She later had multiple laser procedures and shared that it took around four years for her eye to reach its current appearance.
Jessica said she was stunned by the diagnosis because she felt she “didn’t fit any of the stereotypes” associated with skin cancer, adding that she didn’t use sun beds.
During treatment, she said doctors emphasised the importance of wearing high-factor sunscreen daily—advice they said applies to everyone, not just people with increased risk.
But as she began buying SPF regularly, Jessica noticed the cost quickly added up. She then discovered sunscreen is taxed as a cosmetic product in the UK, where the standard VAT rate on most goods is 20%.
“How do people afford to stay safe in the sun?” she questioned. Despite having had skin cancer, Jessica said she still doesn’t qualify for free sunscreen on prescription.
In response, the government told This Morning: “High factor sunscreen is available on the NHS prescription list for certain conditions and provided VAT free when dispensed by a pharamacist to these patients.”
According to the CDC, skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States.
Dr Sarah, who also appeared on the programme, warned that daily sun protection is essential and encouraged viewers to make SPF part of their routine.
For coverage across the average body, she recommends using around ‘6 to 8 tea spoons’. She said one tea spoon equates to two strips of sunscreen along two fingers, and advised reapplying every two hours—more often if you’ve been sweating or swimming.