A SKIN cancer patient at the Countess of Chester Hospital had to have an extraordinary 'dragon horn' cancer growth removed from his back.

The 50-year-old man, who had no significant history of sun exposure or family history of skin malignancy, had the horn growing out of his back for about three years, the British Medical Journal reported in a December case report.

By the time doctors at the hospital came to operate on the unusual growth, it measured 5.5 inches by 2.3 inches.

A skin graft was taken from the patient's thigh to patch up the area once the offending horn had been removed.

Despite the disturbing-looking growth, doctors noted that surprisingly, there was no abnormal growth in the patient's lymph nodes.

The journal's authors – Agata Marta Plonczak, Ramy Aly, Hrsikesa Sharma and Anca Breahna – said this type of skin cancer, called cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, was the second-most common non-melanoma skin cancer.

The report added the number of reported cases was on the rise both in the USA and in Europe.

While the patient – a manual labourer – did not have much medical history to suggest he would be at risk of contracting this type of skin cancer, the authors did note he was a smoker.

The authors concluded: "We report a rare case of an extremely large well-differentiated SCC that was neglected by a patient living in a developed country with access to free healthcare.

"This highlights that despite current public skin cancer awareness and rigorous healthcare measures, cases like this can still arise and slip through the net."