Congenital Nevi

Question: can i get a scholarship for having congenital nevus? I am 19 years old and finishing up my freshman year of college and was looking into finding more sscholarships and was wondering if anyone knew of any for people who have congenital nevus?

Answer: I don't think anyone qualifies for a scholarship by virtue of having large moles cover their body...

Question: My son was diagnosed with having a Congenital Nevus Does having it cause or contribute to hearing loss? He is 5 months old and this was present at birth, but today the doctor just said something about it. He has been to like three different docs and this guy is an ENT and he is the one that mentioned it. It is in the neck/head region. I just read it only affects 1% of the infants born in the US. I have suspected hearing problems since birth and he also failed his newborn hearing test. The right ear failed a hearing test but the left one didn't. The Nevus is on the right side as well. This doctor also noticed that my son's right eye is droopy (which I also noticed but no one will listen to me.) I guess my question is do you know if having a Nevus can contribute to hearing or seeing problems? Does anyone else have a similiar situation? Thank you!

Answer: I have to tell you that I DONT KNOW...but I will offer some advice. I would take him to a geneticist. The reason that Im saying this is because I get the feeling that you feeling that there is something further wrong with your son. Call it mothers instinct. The Geneticist would be the one who would be able to answer these type of questions the best. My daughter was born with Mosaic Down Syndrome, which basically means that she is part Down Syndrome and part normal. She doesnt look like she has down syndrome at all. Had it not been for the geneticist that just happened to be in the nursery when she was born it would of been years til we thought that anything was wrong with her and she would of missed all those years of special education. General Practitioners dont see enough children with special needs to be able to diagnose everything that is out there. By example only 1% of all children with Down Syndrome are Mosaic. Most doctors will never have one in there practice and because many of them dont look the part they usually slip by undetected for years until they start having some amount of delay.

Question: Hairy congenital nevus? Are there proven ways to get rid of one? What are my options? Is there a type of laser surgery that has been successful?

Answer: hi well i have the same thing its a birthmark and mine is dark brown i had went to a dermotologist and they said they could remove it BUT the scar from removing it would be worse than having it. mine is about 2 inches wide and 1inch tall. and its on my thigh. also they can be cancerous, so my doc. also said if he was to remove it and cancer develpoed later on there would be no way of finding the cancer because they can only see the cancer from the mark/lesion itsself i mean its not that bad. maybe go to your doc. hope this helps!if you need anymore information message me on here or email me playful_one77@Yahoo.com

Question: My 4 1/2 month old daughter has a congenital nevus(mole) doctors say get it removed but they don't say when... well when my daughter was born I noticed a brown outline on her upper arm, then it got real dark (almost black) when she was about 2 months. Her pediatrician told me to go to a dermatologist so I did and he said it needs to be removed..But he said well you could have it removed tomorrow or you could do it in 10 years..he didnt really give me a time frame of when I should have it done. The thing is that if I had it done now she would have to be put all the way out. But if I waitd until she was 4 or 5 she would just have to be sedated...So I told my pediatrician and she recommended I get it done at 1 or 2 (she would still have to be put out) but she wouldnt know what was going on and it wouldnt be tramatizing for her... what do you guys think about the situation? I will unclude a link to a picture of it.. http://360.yahoo.com/my_profile-bo8BAr88… include not unclude !! sorry

Answer: My son's had surgery as an infant (10 months) and as a toddler ( 2 1/2 years) and as a preschooler (3 surgeries in the last 5 months), and my advice would be as a baby.......like around a year old. Because she won't know what is going on and will be more likely to just keep on trucking. With each surgery as my son gets older, the recovery time is a lot longer and his pain levels are a lot higher. Good luck, she is absolutely gorgeous!

Question: Has anyone here had a suspicious mole removed? Hi all! My sister had a mole removed yesterday and the doc said he was "worried." She had the same thing happen a few years ago and it turned out to be benign. I have an appt next week to have a couple suspicious moles looked at (I went to a free skin cancer screening and was told they should be followed up on) and I am SCARED! I am worried for both my sister and I. Has anyone on here had benign OR cancerous moles removed, and what happened? What did the moles look like (please don't post links to skin cancer websites because I've looked at every single one on the net- part of the reason I'm so scared!). One of my moles is on my breast, the other is on the side of my foot. At the screening they were named "dysplastic nevi" and "congenital nevus". Please share your experience so I can chill out! Thanks!

Answer: I had a mole removed from my face...it was benign. Mine was done via shave biopsy. Basically, she injected my chin with a little lidocaine (an anesthetic), took a scalpel, and then just shaved it right off, then covered it with a Band-Aid. My mole was dark brown/black, and I believe it was called a congenital nevus. A nevus is the medical term for a mole. Dysplastic means it's growing abnormally. It doesn't mean it's cancerous, but it means it needs to be biopsied to see if it is cancerous. Congenital just means it was there when you were born. Skin cancer isn't a big deal if it's caught early. It's removed, and then you just have to be really careful about sun protection and frequent skin checks by a dermatologist. Good luck! Don't worry, you'll be fine.

Question: ♥ Half heart mole on my right hand, half heart mole on his left hand, join up to make a love heart ♥? I have a congenital nevus birthmark on the edge of the back of my left hand.. This guy I know has the exact same birthmark on the edge of his right hand.. The half hearts join up to make a heart perfectly. Do you think this is a cool story?

Answer: Well, if u hav the SAME MATCHING HEART MOLE i thought u were SOULMATES! get married! I think thts the gr8est thing ive ever heard in my life! WOW!

Question: Do I have skin cancer? I went to the doctor a week ago to have two odd moles looked at. She decided to do an incisional biopsy on them. Yesterday the doc called and said that one of them was a "highly atypical nevus" and that I should come back ASAP to get more tissue removed with a margin. I'm going in tomorrow to do that. When I asked what that means, she said that we'd talk about it in person. Now I'm worried. I'm only 26, but I have a lot of risk factors for skin cancer--family history, blue eyes and red hair, pale skin and freckles, many many bad sunburns, congenital nevi (moles I was born with), and a precancerous mole that was removed 7 years ago. That's why I keep a close eye on my skin and went to the doc in the first place. Does this mean that I have (or probably have) skin cancer? An update--yes, I have skin cancer. It's a very early stage melanoma, very treatable.

Answer: First, "naevus" or "nevus" just means a pigmented lesion on your skin, like a birth mark. Most are benign. However, when she called, she obviously had gotten some suspicious pathology reports back, and wants to take a closer look. Getting a sample with a border allows her to compare your normal cells with those of the area she's testing. When she takes the sample, they preserve it (usually in alcohol), then embed it in a parafin block, and take very very thin slices of it with a microtome blade. These slices are mounted on microscope slides, and a pathologist reviews them for signs of malignancy. There are some things you can look at on your own body, though. They're called the ABC's of skin cancer, and diagnosticians and general practitioners learn them in med school. A = asymmetry (the mole is not a circle or oval, but blebbs, and has an inconsistent shape) B = Border (if the border is not smooth, it may signal a problem) and C = colour (color changes in nevi are not good. normal colors are shades of brown, turning red or black can signal a problem). These rules are not hard and fast, but serve as a good tool. Good luck.

Question: What would you do if this was your child? I just asked this question, but Im looking for a few more opinions my daughter has a congenital nevus(mole) she is 4 1/2 months old when my daughter was born I noticed a brown outline on her upper arm, then it got real dark (almost black) when she was about 2 months. Her pediatrician told me to go to a dermatologist so I did and he said it needs to be removed..But he said well you could have it removed tomorrow or you could do it in 10 years..he didnt really give me a time frame of when I should have it done. The thing is that if I had it done now she would have to be put all the way out. But if I waitd until she was 4 or 5 she would just have to be sedated...So I told my pediatrician and she recommended I get it done at 1 or 2 (she would still have to be put out) but she wouldnt know what was going on and it wouldnt be tramatizing for her... what do you guys think about the situation? I will unclude a link to a picture of it.. http://360.yahoo.com/my_profile-bo8BAr88… cause the 360 page has a picture of her mole...

Answer: I would ask the doctor: what are the risks of waiting until she is older? Can it spread or become cancerous if not removed? If there is no risk, I would wait. I would also ask about the risks of local vs. general anesthesia. As far as I know, I am not sure, but I think having a baby put out carries some serious risks. I think there might even be a very small chance of death. Unless the risk of waiting until she is 4-5 outweighs the risk of the anesthetic I would wait until she's old enough to just be sedated. http://kaiserpapers.info/news/ca/debate.…

Question: Do I have skin cancer? I went to the doctor a week ago to have two odd moles looked at. She decided to do an incisional biopsy on them. Yesterday the doc called and said that one of them was a "highly atypical nevus" and that I should come back ASAP to get more tissue removed with a margin. I'm going in tomorrow to do that. When I asked what that means, she said that we'd talk about it in person. Now I'm worried. I'm only 26, but I have a lot of risk factors for skin cancer--family history, blue eyes and red hair, pale skin and freckles, many many bad sunburns, congenital nevi (moles I was born with), and a precancerous mole that was removed 7 years ago. That's why I keep a close eye on my skin and went to the doc in the first place. Does this mean that I have (or probably have) skin cancer? An update--yes, I have skin cancer. It's a very early stage melanoma, very treatable.

Answer: If the first biopsy looked unusual, this does not necessarily mean it was malignant, just not typical-looking. The doctors just want to be sure they are covering all the bases, so nothing falls through the cracks. Just go to the appointment, and if it is malignant, they will tell you. Good luck!