Dr. Chris Steele is a much-loved faced among viewers of This Morning, regularly doling out sage wisdom on a range of medical topics.
So trusted is the TV doctor, this week he celebrates 35 years of advising viewers on the ITV morning show. The 78-year-old has always been relatable to fans of the show and had spoken openly about his own health battles... watch the video below to remind yourself of Dr. Chris' TV career.
In 1996, the respected doctor was diagnosed with skin cancer and took the opportunity to reassure ITV viewers that the surgery he had to undergo was nothing to be scared of. He told fellow This Morning doctor, Dr. Zoe Williams: "It takes the fear of the surgery away from them… You’re not going to be disfigured hopefully, you’re going to be cured and of course, it gets them talking," he said of his decision to allow cameras into the operating theatre when he had his skin cancer removed.
The cancer ordeal wasn't over for Dr. Chris though, who was diagnosed a second time in 2012, taking the disease in his stride by telling Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield at the time that his diagnosis was "purely the result of over-exposure to the sun and sunbeds."
© Ken McKay/ITV/ShutterstockExplaining his cancer experience, Dr. Chris said: "Back in 1996 I had skin cancer on the left side of my cheek which was removed and I was left with a hole in my cheek about the size of a fifty pence piece and a skin surgeon stitched the edges together and you can't see where it's been.
"A few years later my wife said, 'you've got a mark on your back just the same as your face', and I went back to see the guy and yes, it was another skin cancer - a different type to the other one I had on my face...and then two weeks ago, I found a mark on my leg."
Dr. Chris luckily recovered from both cancer diagnoses, but shared insight into other ailments in order to reassure his loyal fans, inviting viewers to watch his cataract surgery, which we underwent in 2016.
© S Meddle/ITV/ShutterstockOf the eye issue, Dr. Chris told The Mirror: "The thing with cataracts is that you don’t really notice the cloudiness in your eye lens at first. The blurriness is very fine and I don’t know when the tipping point was, but I just saw a gradual deterioration in my eyesight over time.
"I’ve been wearing glasses for short-sightedness for more than 30 years, but last year, I realised I couldn’t see writing at a distance – road signs were no longer clear and gradually worsened. After 48 hours, I had perfect sight and you wouldn’t have known I’d had an operation."
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The medical professional also raised awareness for the Covid vaccine back in 2021, taking to X, which was known as Twitter at the time, to encourage his fans to book in for the jab. "I had my Covid vaccination yesterday. I didn’t feel a thing except for huge sense of relief! GET INJECTED NOT INFECTED!!" he implored.
We'd like to send Chris our thanks for his 35 years of informing the nation, and we're keeping our fingers crossed for many more years!
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