Rachel Maddow Reveals She Had Surgery to Treat Skin Cancer

Rachel Maddow announced during her show on Wednesday that she underwent surgery for skin cancer last Friday. She encouraged viewers to keep up their regularly scheduled appointments with doctors since her cancer was only treatable because it was found early enough.

Maddow, 48, told her audience that her partner Susan Mikula had spotted a change in a mole on her neck during a baseball game and urged her to get it checked out. A dermatologist conducted a biopsy and determined she did have skin cancer.

"I had a few days off because I had surgery at NYU Langone on Friday," the MSNBC host said. "They're fantastic. They got it, they got all of it. I'm good. I have clear margins, the whole thing."

She explained that people with similar moles like her should go and have them checked with a doctor. Maddow added that it was only due to Mikula that she was able to get cancer checked and treated in time, "because I have been blowing off my appointments forever to get stuff like that checked because I've assumed it will always be fine."

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the U.S. with about 4.3 million people being treated for some type each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Maddow cautioned: "You do need to get this stuff checked at the doctor. Do not blow it off."

The host recently signed a new contract with NBCUniversal to eventually end her weeknight show and shift to producing more specials.

"I know I need to have everything checked, like, every five minutes from here on out because I do not want to get this again," Maddow told viewers. "Susan was right! She always is! I am going to be absolutely fine. I'm going to be totally fine."