Carol Vorderman hit by health scare as she issues warning over common condition on the rise

Carol Vorderman has issued a warning over an increasingly common, but potentially fatal condition, following her own health scare.

The TV presenter, 62, revealed that she was told she had cells which were precancerous after becoming concerned about some changes in her skin.

It comes as new data from Cancer Research showed that melanoma skin cancer cases in the UK have reached an all-time high. According to the charity, 17,500 cases are diagnosed ever year, with projections suggesting the numbers could increase by 50 per cent over the next 20 years.

Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features.

Vorderman, who lost her mother in 2017 to cancer, one of which being melanoma, has had her own abnormal cells removed. But she's urging other people to take better care in the sun, after revealing her own dangerous relationship with tanning.

"I was burning away merrily for many, many years," she told the PA news agency. "I’m of the generation where we started to sunbathe – my mother’s generation didn’t.

"We were also caught in the formative years, the 60s, 70s, 80s, where we had absolutely no idea of what sun protection was – you just couldn’t buy it. I think it was the 90s that began. So in all of our youth we were encouraging each other to sunbathe doused in cooking oil."

Vorderman remembers the ways people would try and boost their tan – from sunbathing surrounded by metal foil (so you could 'get all the rays of the sun') to discovering sunbeds. And she was particularly keen on soaking up as much of the sun as possible, as she grew up by the sea.

Research suggests people around Vorderman’s age are increasingly affected, with the probability of people aged 55 and older