In a surprising and very serious piece of Grey's Anatomy news, Eric Dane was diagnosed with a form of skin cancer just last month.

Fortunately, he has successfully treated the disease and is recovering well. The actor spoke to OK! magazine about his struggle.

The Grey's Anatomy star first detected something was wrong when he looked in the mirror and saw what looked like chapped lips - but wasn't.

"I went to my dermatologist," Eric Dane tells the celebrity news magazine. "He said it was malignant tissue caused by sun damage."

The malignancy was treated by doctors who began freezing the cancerous tissue off with liquid nitrogen. Unfortunately for Dane, his skin had a severe reaction to a cream given to him to put on his lip after the treatment.

"My skin is very sensitive and my lip was traumatized by the procedure I had to go through," he said, noting that his reaction to the medication created a painful scenario that made eating difficult.

"I didn't eat very well for a couple of weeks and lost a bunch of weight," Eric Dane explains, estimating that he dropped at least 10 pounds off his ripped, 6'1" frame while dealing with his skin cancer.

We're very sorry to hear about this but glad Eric is speaking out about it, as it will raise awareness of the seriousness of the disease.

And we're glad we can expect Dr. Mark "McSteamy" Sloan back when Grey's Anatomy resumes production - hopefully very, very soon.

Steve Marsi is the Managing Editor of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Google+ or email him here.