As long as I can remember, I have a white birthmark on my arm and a black birthmark on my waist. Do you have a birthmark? Birthmarks are really related to past lives.

Birthmark, medically called "mother spot" or "mole", is an abnormal proliferation of skin tissue during development, with abnormal shape and color on the skin surface. Birthmarks can be found at birth or a few months later. Birthmarks can generally be divided into pigment type and vascular type. The common pigment types are Ota mother spot, congenital melanin mother spot, coffee milk spot and so on. The types of blood vessels include wine stains and strawberry hemangioma.

Every parent wants their children to be healthy and lively, with beautiful and lovely appearance. But sometimes it backfires, and some children will be troubled by birthmark lesions. There is no way to predict which children will have birthmarks and why. Birthmark is not related to the mother's violation of certain taboos during pregnancy, as folk customs say. A child's birthmark can be said to be a gift from heaven or a test, depending on what kind of mentality we use to face such a challenge.

Simple self-diagnosis of birthmark color

Black birthmark: melanocyte nevus, congenital hirsute melanin mother spot, dermoid nevus, spotted nevus.

Blue birthmark: Mongolian spot, Ota mother spot, Ito mother spot, blue mother spot.

Brown birthmark: coffee milk spot, baker's mother spot

Red birthmark: wine nevus, flame nevus, strawberry hemangioma.

Purple birthmark: cutaneous venous tumor, cavernous hemangioma.

Skin birthmark: epidermal mother spot, sebum mother spot, connective tissue nevus.

Incidence rate of birthmark

The incidence of neonatal birthmarks is about 10%, which can be said to be very common. Most birthmarks only affect the appearance and do not need special treatment. However, some birthmarks may be combined with abnormalities of body organs, and even have the possibility of malignant transformation, which must be actively treated. For example, some cavernous hemangioma proliferates too fast, which will cause limb deformity, not only ugly appearance, but also dysfunction. Even if hemangioma expands too fast, it will form tissue necrosis, and excessive consumption of platelets will make coagulation function low and bleeding will not stop. Some fur-like moles may become malignant melanoma in the future, which will lead to death after metastasis.

Facial birthmarks need active treatment.

Some people joked that once a person with a birthmark becomes a missing person, the chances of finding it are higher. But if the birthmark grows on the face, hands and feet and other obvious parts, people today will be in trouble. Some people paint heavy makeup every day to cover it up, while others feel inferior and hesitate to socialize. The obvious birthmark on the face is easy to be treated differently by others, which will make the patient suffer a great psychological blow; Children, in particular, tend to feel inferior or autistic when they grow up. According to European and American studies, the birthmark on the face will affect the psychological development of children and become a personality problem in the future. Therefore, in Britain, Canada and Japan, legislation is made to help children remove facial birthmarks free of charge through insurance compensation, so as to avoid the need for greater efforts to correct their psychology in the future.

Does laser tattoo hurt? This is a problem that every child and parent will feel uneasy before treatment. In fact, laser is very painful, and the burning feeling of irradiation is very similar to that of rubber band bouncing or burning with wax oil. The process needs the comfort and perseverance of parents to overcome. Although general anesthesia can relieve pain, it will increase the risk of treatment and is not recommended at present. Sticking a local anesthetic patch or using a cryogenic cooling system can alleviate the pain of children. Although it hurts a little when the laser hits the skin, it is worthwhile to wash away the innate brand.

The birthmark removal laser is indispensable.

Before skin laser was popularized, except birthmarks, most of them were frozen by electrocautery, and severe birthmarks had to be removed and repaired, but they were easy to leave scars. At present, pigment spot laser can selectively destroy pigment, and dye laser can target vascular lesions without leaving scars after treatment. Therefore, in addition to serious birthmarks, laser has become the best choice to remove birthmarks.

Ruby laser is the best choice for laser treatment of pigmented birthmarks, and the current concept is to treat them as soon as possible. Take Ota master spot as an example. Generally, children need 4-5 times of treatment, while adults need 7- 10 times, so it is best to remove melanin before it accumulates. However, there are great differences in the treatment of birthmarks. Some people have obvious effects, and some people may have slow progress in treatment, so you should give yourself and your doctor more time to fully evaluate before receiving treatment.

Vascular birthmarks are generally treated with dye laser, but the effect and reaction are difficult to predict. For example, the blood vessels stained with wine can be removed by laser, and the effect is most obvious when the ratio of 1 and 2 times, which can reach 50-60%. After that, the therapeutic effect will decrease because the residual blood vessels become deeper and deeper, and usually as many as 7- 10 treatments are needed. Because of the deep tissue depth, strawberry hemangioma can only dredge superficial blood vessels by using laser as auxiliary treatment. Generally, sclerosing agent or steroid injection is needed, and even vascular embolization and surgical resection are needed. The traditional idea is that strawberry hemangioma will naturally shrink without treatment, but the result of delaying treatment is that the hemangioma shrinks incompletely, leaving ugly scars. Therefore, the current concept is to recommend early treatment, even at the age of 6 months.

Although laser treatment of birthmarks is effective, it is expensive, and not every birthmark is suitable and needs laser removal. Parents had better consult a professional doctor, make an accurate diagnosis, and judge the influence of birthmarks on the body and whether they need to be removed.