What are birthmarks?
Birthmarks are areas of raised or flat discolored skin that are usually visible on a baby's skin at birth. They tend to be the result of an abnormal development of blood or lymph vessels, but no one knows the exact cause of all birthmarks. Certain types of birthmarks may not show up for several days or weeks after a baby's birth. Some marks endure for life, while others fade away over time. They're very common; you probably have one or more somewhere on your body.
What do they look like?
Birthmarks come in a wide range of shapes, sizes, and colors and can show up anywhere on a child's body. The most common varieties are:
-Caf au lait spots, permanent tan or light brown flat patches that sometimes appear in multiples. About 20 percent of all newborns have these discolorations; they usually get smaller as a child grows.
-Moles, which vary in size and may be raised or flat, smooth or hairy, black or brown. Large ones are known as nevi.
-Bluish or greenish Mongolian spots on the back or buttocks, which usually fade by school age, although they may never disappear altogether. They are most common in babies with dark skin.
-"Stork bites" or "angel kisses." Many babies have blotchy pink or purple marks -- overgrown capillary veins near the surface of the skin -- on the back of their neck or on their eyelids. They usually fade within the first year.
-Dark berry-colored port-wine stains. Light ones may fade, but most endure and enlarge as the child grows. They are commonly found on the face and head (the birthmark on former Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev's head is a port-wine stain). About three in every 1,000 babies are born with these marks.
-Raised crimson marks known as strawberry hemangiomas (because they look and feel like a strawberry) that appear on about 10 percent of babies. They tend to grow for several years and then usually disappear by age 10.
-Cavernous hemangioma, a lumpy bluish or bluish-red mass that grows quickly in the child's first six months, then slows and starts shrinking by about 18 months, and is usually gone by the time a child reaches the teen years.
I have seen the crimison "Strawberry" marks two of my friends had those in interesting spots. One on her whole side of her face and the other I am not saying.
Caf au lait spots, permanent tan or light brown flat patches that sometimes appear in multiples. About 20 percent of all newborns have these discolorations; they usually get smaller as a child grows.
I have one like the highlighted on my leg.
It is interesting that we came in all shapes, colors, ( Speckles or non-speckled) and sizes. I did not realize that there were other varieties of birth marks. Like Bluish or greenish Mongolian spots and Stork bites, first time I have heard of these.
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