Teddi Mellencamp has hit another bump in the road on her skin cancer journey.
The “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alum — who was diagnosed with stage 2 melanoma in October 2022 — revealed Tuesday that the topical cream immunotherapy treatment she’d been doing for almost three months “did not work on [her] melanomas.”
“I had a wide excision removal on my most recent melanoma last week to see if it did and sadly it did not,” Mellencamp, 42, told her Instagram followers alongside a photo of her scarred back.
According to the American Cancer Society, immunotherapy is a treatment that uses a person’s immune system to fight cancer by boosting or changing how the immune system works so it can find and attack cancer cells.
The former Bravolebrity said in an accompanying video posted to her Instagram Story that her doctors presented her with “two different options,” including doing “a big skin graft from [her] stomach or arm, but it’s a very long recovery.”
She ultimately decided that “the best next course of action” is to undergo another excision operation on Dec. 26 “to remove a larger portion of problematic area.”
The mother of three said a plastic surgeon would be involved as well “because it’s such a big area.”
Though Mellencamp’s “anxiety is popping off” about “going under,” she has “faith all will be ok” and that “the reason this is happening” to her is so she can “raise awareness.”
“After surgery, when god willing my margins are clear, we will continue to monitor my body closely every 3 months,” she explained, encouraging her fans to “book [their] skin checks for the new year.”
Despite the surgery that awaits her, the “Two Ts in a Pod” co-host is “so looking forward to spending Christmas with [her] loved ones.”
Since announcing her diagnosis, Mellencamp has undergone various procedures to remove multiple melanomas and lymph nodes.
In January, a month after she was declared cancer-free, she disclosed that her doctors had found new spots they felt needed to be biopsied.
She underwent yet another operation in September, lamenting at the time, “I can’t even remember if this is the 12th or 13th [melanoma].”
“At this point,” she tearfully added, “I am starting to black out these memories like a portion of my childhood.”