BRET MICHAELS On His Latest Skin Cancer Scare: 'Right Now Everything's Looking Great'

Bret Michaels says that "everything is looking great" following his recent cancer scare.

Four weeks ago, the POISON frontman revealed that the passing of popular singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who died after a four-year battle with Merkel cell skin cancer, prompted him to see his own doctor. He added that he received a biopsy for a problematic spot on his stomach, and cancer cells were discovered. Photos shared by the singer showed a scar along the side of his stomach, and the bandaged post-surgery result.

In a new interview with "Elliot In The Morning", Michaels offered an update on his condition, saying (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "After Jimmy Buffett had passed away, and was a friend, I went in and decided to up my… I love the outdoors and I love the sun, when I can get it. I thought maybe it's a good time just to check. And most of what I thought was bad ended up being good and the one I thought was good ended up not being good. So we biopsied, went in immediately and right now everything's looking great."

He continued: "It was a moment, but I decided, 'Look, I'm just gonna stay positive.' And hopefully the doctors — they're great at what they do — remove as much as they can. And now it's just you go in and do your blood tests and annual checkups about every three months and make sure they got all the margins."

Bret went on to say that keeping sun protection in mind throughout the year is crucial for reducing the risk of developing skin cancer.

"I'm a believer that if you applied [the sunscreen] once — this is old-school thinking — if I cover this once in the morning, I'm sure after 12 hours in the sun, it's still working," he quipped. "And it turns out I was wrong. It turns out that my information was incorrect.

"I've gotta tell you something. I love, more than anything, the outdoors. When we travel, we tour, I am out there just enjoying myself mountain biking, out on the lake, whatever I can do to be outdoors. It's great. I've learned quickly to find that balance.

"I'm one of those people, I'm grateful to get to do what I love to do — I play music, I get to travel, I get to hang out with great people and have a great time," Michaels continued. "And then just finding that balance and being… I think some of my saving grace, as weird as this comment is gonna be, being a type one diabetic since the age of six, what is incredible is that it's helped me… Right when I get to that edge of having nothing but a good time, that party, it just pulls me back enough to be able to say, 'Look, I'm diabetic. I've gotta take care of this.' I do the five injections a day since I've been six years old.

"I say this to everybody out there: you've gotta live, you've gotta enjoy yourself, and I found that balance," Bret added. "And luckily they caught… What happened to me, I've gotta be straight honest, I had no idea that that — I didn't think that what became something was anything. I was, like, 'That isn't anything.' And the stuff I thought might be something turned out it was nothing. So I leave it into the professionals' hands. And luckily, I went and got that checkup, or it may not have turned out where they got to the margins."

This is not the first skin cancer scare for Bret, who announced back in January 2020 that he would undergo treatment for the cancer which is usually caused by the sun's harmful rays. He didn't disclose what type of skin cancer he had or how serious his diagnosis was, but he assured fans that he was being treated by "incredible specialists who are both positive for great results."

In March 2020, Bret told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation" about his surgery to have a patch of skin cancer removed: "What happened was… I'm a guy, I admit it, I like being out in the sun, I like having a great time. I usually do the right thing and spray and protect, but sometimes it's not gonna stop it. And it happened, and we thought we got it, and then when it came back, it took it to another level. It got a little scary for a moment, but all is great.

"The thing is, and I say this all the time, I'm one of those guys — I'm hands-on, I'm living it, I'm doing it, and with it just comes all the years, again, as we've talked a zillion times, about being a diabetic," he continued. "As best as you take care of your health, things are just gonna happen. You just keep on keeping on and rocking. I'm here to have another great tour and another great year."

Michaels survived one of his most difficult health years to date in 2010 when he faced an emergency appendectomy, a brain hemorrhage and heart surgery.

"I dealt with a lot of health issues during that year, and by the grace of God and a lot of hard work and therapy, I'm still on the good side of the dirt and having a good time," he told People in December 2019.

The rocker, who is a father to two daughters, is a lifelong Type 1 juvenile diabetic who continues to raise funds and awareness for not only diabetic causes, but St. Jude Children's Hospital, PetSmart charities and more.

Last year, POISON completed "The Stadium Tour" with MÖTLEY CRÜE, DEF LEPPARD and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS.