Sanders' office said he had skin cancer removed from his cheek in an outpatient procedure

Bernie Sanders' office says the Vermont senator had a small basal cell carcinoma (BCC) removed from his cheek in an outpatient procedure.

Basal cell carcinoma is the most common type of skin cancer, a form that is slow-growing and highly curable.

Sanders' office says the hour-long procedure was completed Thursday and the senator returned to work afterward. He later returned to Vermont.

Adults over 60 are the most common victims of skin cancer.

According to SkinCancer.org, basal cell carcinoma normally doesn't spread beyond the original site and is rarely fatal.

More than 4million new cases are diagnosed in the US each year and BCC is the most common.

The hour-long procedure was completed Thursday and the senator returned to work afterward

The senator competed for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination against Hillary Clinton.

Early in his career, Sanders had some scientifically unsound opinions about cancer, including that it could result from sexual repression.

A 28-year-old Sanders once wrote in 1969 for the Freeman: 'What do you think it really means when 3 doctors, after intense study, write that 'of the 26 patients (who developed breast cancer) below 51 (years of age), one was sexually adjusted.' It means, very bluntly, that the manner in which you bring up your daughter with regard to sexual attitudes may very well determine whether or not she will develop breast cancer, among other things,' according to Mother Jones.