The BBC and others have reported on a remarkable medical case in recent days, after a man had to have a five-inch horn-shaped growth removed from his back.

The case was detailed in the British Medical Journal, where its authors wrote of the man's risk factors;

"A 50-year-old manual labourer presented with a 3-year history of a progressively enlarging lesion to the lower back. In terms of risk factors, the patient had no significant sun exposure, no previous or family history of skin malignancy and was not immunosuppressed."

The "enormous" growth had developed over the course of three years, the authors of the study wrote. The patient was operated on at the Countess of Chester Hospital, Cheshire, by plastic surgeons.

Per the BBC, doctors were surprised to learn that the patient had no abnormal growth in his lymph nodes, while the authors of the study in the BMJ, Agata Marta Plonczak, Ramy Aly, Hrsikesa Sharma and Anca Breahna, hoped to raise further awareness of skin cancer.

They wrote;

 "We report a rare case of an extremely large well-differentiated SCC [Squamous Cell Carcinoma] 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."

The type of skin cancer the 50-year-old had is the second most common non-melanoma skin cancer, the BBC reports, but most cases are treated before becoming what are known as "dragon horns".

The BBC and others have reported on a remarkable medical case in recent days, after a man had to have a five-inch horn-shaped growth removed from his back.

The case was detailed in the British Medical Journal, where its authors wrote of the man's risk factors;

"A 50-year-old manual labourer presented with a 3-year history of a progressively enlarging lesion to the lower back. In terms of risk factors, the patient had no significant sun exposure, no previous or family history of skin malignancy and was not immunosuppressed."

The "enormous" growth had developed over the course of three years, the authors of the study wrote. The patient was operated on at the Countess of Chester Hospital, Cheshire, by plastic surgeons.

Per the BBC, doctors were surprised to learn that the patient had no abnormal growth in his lymph nodes, while the authors of the study in the BMJ, Agata Marta Plonczak, Ramy Aly, Hrsikesa Sharma and Anca Breahna, hoped to raise further awareness of skin cancer.

They wrote;

 "We report a rare case of an extremely large well-differentiated SCC [Squamous Cell Carcinoma] 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."

The type of skin cancer the 50-year-old had is the second most common non-melanoma skin cancer, the BBC reports, but most cases are treated before becoming what are known as "dragon horns".