Melanie Griffith - Cancer Scare For Griffith

Actress MELANIE GRIFFITH's black eye has been explained - it stems from cancer surgery.

The Working Girl star has been keen to cover up the shiner, wearing dark glasses in public - but one recent shot caught her off guard and led to speculation about how she came by the bruised face.

Now her publicist has told TMZ.com the black eye was the result of a surgical procedure to remove early stages of skin cancer from her face.

It has been a tough year for the star - in August (09), she checked into a rehab facility in Utah after struggling with a dependency for painkillers.

According to her husband, Antonio Banderas, the actress felt her resolve weaken after three operations on her knee following a skiing accident at the start of 2008 and feared taking the medication she was prescribed to numb the pain would tempt her back onto harder drugs.

Griffith is a recovering addict.

Banderas explained, "In March, she came to me and said, 'I'm feeling a little bit weak in my determination for this (to stay sober)... so I just thought to go to rehabilitation by myself.'"