Alannah Hill is undergoing treatment for cancer.

Alannah Hill is undergoing treatment for cancer.

Australian fashion designer Alannah Hill, 52, has had part of her toe removed as part of treatment for cancer.

The iconic designer revealed to Fairfax Media that she broke her toe whilst shooing away her dog — which led to the discovery of a dark spot that turned out to be an “invasive malignant melanoma”.

Hill was faced with the possibility of losing her whole foot to stop the cancerous cells spreading, although fortunately she was only required to lose part of her toe — an operation she underwent at the weekend, along with a skin graft from her inner thigh.

Although the quirky fashion queen initially wished to keep her diagnosis private, her doctor encouraged her to share her story and encourage other Australians to get any suspicious spots checked.

“My loves, as I write this I am in hospital recovering from surgery. I am on Endone (morphine),” she wrote online yesterday.

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“I thought my little freckle was just a freckle getting bigger. But it was the first signs of a melanoma – which is a sign to go and get checked,” She added in an email to Fairfax Media.

“My message is simple. No matter how small your little mole is, no matter how insignificant it looks, go to your doctor and get it checked.”

She finished the email to Fairfax with: “We often forget how important we are. Not just to ourselves. But to the people we love, and who love us”.

Hill — known for her porcelain skin, which she has always protected with a parasol and gloves — is expected to remain in hospital for at least a week, and is in talks with doctors about the possibility of further treatment such as radiotherapy.

Hill, who left her eponymous label in 2013 after 18 years, is now running a label called Louise Love. The mother-of-one announced last week on Facebook she would be taking a “winter sabbatical” from the label for personal reasons, and will return with a Spring collection.

Related content: Alannah Hill has started a new label.

We wish her all the best in her recovery.