Thursday, March 19, 2009

Sebaceous Nevus

15 years ago I gave birth to a healthy baby boy who had what is known today as sebaceous nevus....
To put it in English it looks like a scar of sorts and this was on the side of his head...
Most frequently, a solitary, hairless patch is noted on the scalp at birth or in early childhood.
A velvety tan or orange-yellow plaque may also occur on other areas of the head and the neck. Hormonal influences from the mother may briefly increase the prominence in an infant, whereas pubertal hormones enhance the verrucoid appearance in an adolescent.
Doctors were baffled by the sight of it as it is very rare indeed....
Well my boy had a specialist appointment with the dermatologist today as it has changed in size and colour....
It`s something he and I , yes I passed it on to him , have to live with and be vigilant of any changes that occurs with this condition....
The specialist has only ever seen one other case like Joshua`s so they were excited that they were given permission to take pictures of the lesion....
We now have to return to the hospital next month for a biopsy...
In very rare cases it can turn cancerous and seeing as Joshua's has now changed colour they are not taking any risks....
As for me mine has never changed colour...
Still a lovely shade of pink but it has grown over the years....
It`s getting to the stage where my hair is having difficulty in covering it so it might be time to see whether they can actually surgically remove it...

22 comments:

  1. Gosh I have never heard of that...nature throws some unusual things into our mix doesn't it?
    Best of luck with the test Mandy, he sounds like a happy healthy young fella and he has a vigilant caring Mumma!

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  2. Hi Mandy :)

    I've only heard about it because I used to be on a woman's forum, where they talked a lot a about babies. There was one particular woman who mentioned her son having one as well.

    I agree with Shazam's comment :)

    Cute pic (is it of your son?)I love the little love heart shape he is making with his hands :)

    Please keep us updated ! :)

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  3. Hi Mandy, I certainly hope that all is well for Joshua, and for you. As a woman and a mother I think you are hardwired to feel guilt, I hope you won't feel too badly, it certainly isn't something you had a choice in, we all know this wouldn't be happening if you did.
    xxx Starry

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  4. Hi Mandy
    Well you learn something different every day,if you look and listen. I glad to see that you are onto it straight away.Guess what?,It's just on 2 months since I tried to stop smoking,and anyone who says giving up is easy has never really smoked a cigarette. I call them "Puffers"they never really did the full on (draw back),so they were never fully adicted. I'll be honest,I still have a puff here and there when the urge gets to strong.
    I opened a page here but I haven't blogged yet,as there is to much on my plate at the moment.I'll have to go out and by that "Round Too'it" One day so that I can get around to doing it.He He
    Good to hear from you Mandy,and say Hi to the others,I'll try and get myself organised sood Cheers>>>Keith,Ponder-osa

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  5. Mandy this is a bit of a 'twist.'
    Like Mother like Son! How does Joshua feel about the thought of having a biopsy?
    Thinking of you dear friend. Do hope that everything else at home is smooth sailing..l

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  6. Hi Shazam....Unfortunately he coped a fair bit from his parents....He suffered from asthma for years also (from his father)....
    Hopefully he will be like me though and not have too much trouble with his growth...

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  7. Hi Jules , when googling about the nevus I did notice there was a chat site you could go on to but haven`t bothered as yet....
    Soory I should have stated in my post that the picture is not of my son but it`s cute anyway....

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  8. Starry I did feel guilty for many years...Now I suppose we both have to live with the fact....
    Joshua like me is very self concious of what we have and hence this is why he always has a hat on his head....

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  9. Hi Keith thanks for dropping by...
    Don`t I know about it when trying to give up...I`ve tried so many times and then that dreaded "stress" comes visiting and it all goes out the window....
    You`ll get your act together soon enough...Hope all is well with you and Jan and have a wonderful weekend...

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  10. Hello dear Chez....Yes in some ways Joshua is very much like me..I`m afraid he has his fathers temer though....Not a good thing...
    He is ok knowing he has to have a biopsy, he`ll have mum by his side...
    Between Joshua and Krystal having specialist appointments I seem to be a regular visitor at the hospital of late...Now all we need is to get Matt the help he needs....

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  11. Hope all goes well with the biopsy at least you have noticed the changes and got onto it quick.

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  12. WoW my liitte boy just got back from his dermatology appt today and he has the same thing. He was born with it and its gotten a little bigger. He is now 7 months old and I've decided to have it removed. His father has something that looks just like it on his chest except its about 8 inches wide and long. Ive been reading and it scares me that it has a risk to develope cancer.

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  13. My baby is now 9 months old. He had one sebacious nevus around 2 months old he now has four sebacious nevi.We go to the dermatologist on Monday. I am kinda worried. One has changed shape a little. I have never heard of this untill this month. I had no idea what the spot on his head was.
    Elisha

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  14. Hi!!! I just wanted to let you know, that I know exactly what your going through. My daughter was born with what I was told a sebatious nevus also. today i took her to a dermatologist and they said that it wasnt the sebatious nevus, that it was a becker nevus. (The doctor is going to remove it in a few weeks.)
    now what i see online, there no way it could be the becker nevus, cause it is like extreme hair growth on the shoulders or back area.
    this rare birthmark is within her hair line. Now it also looks like the pictures I've seen here online. im now confused on what to do, or what it is; is there any advice you can give me. please find me on myspace.
    thank you,
    Samantha

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  15. Hi, I just found this blog when I googled sebaceous nevus. My daughter was born 9 years ago with an extremely extensive case. She has had 17 surgeries and 5 rounds of tissue expanders to remove the nevus. She's been in the news lately, if you want to learn more and see photos:

    www.wgntv.com/news/medicalwatch/wgntv-nevus-surgery-sept02,0,5857324.story

    www.kitsapsun.com/news/2009/aug/23/gig-harbor-happy-girl-nevus-life/

    Good luck to you and your son. The changes that occur with sebaceous nevus at puberty have been one of the driving forces behind getting our daughter's nevi removed in childhood.

    MK Smith

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  16. i Have this on my head and i am very self concious about it, it almost feels like my hair is thinnning out on top near it i hate haircuts because i feel like everyone will be looking at it ..... i HATE it!!

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  17. Krista from CanadaJuly 10, 2010 at 12:30 PM

    Hi Mandy,

    I happened to come across your blog as I was reading about sebaceous nevus online. As I read further, I was surprised to see your son's name was Joshua. My son is 15 (will be 16 July 16th) and his name is also Joshua. He was born with what I was told was a birth mark on his scalp just above his right ear. As he got older, the bald spot with no hair seemed to grow. We have seen a specialist twice and we have now elected to remove it..he has day surgery scheduled for this coming Tuesday July 13th...interesting our sons are both 15, have the same name and both have this condition..lol

    Krista in Canada

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  18. I had that at birth, too.

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  19. I had this at birth, too

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  20. i found this story and i was curious about it. you see, i was born with one but after looking at some pictures mine never looked like the others. it wasnt big but it was a weird pink, purple color. when i was in high school i had asked my mom i wanted to have it surgically removed. afterwards the doctors said it wasnt cancerous and all i have from it is a small scar.

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  21. Mandy,
    This is a disorder that runs in my family. My daughter was born with one that was 3-4" long down the side of her face that ran down from her temple to about her chin. In her late teens she had three surgeries to have most of it removed. I was told she needed to have multiple surgeries to remove it due to the size. If it was all removed at once, she would have ended up with a wide scar. After three surgeries and most of it removed, she refused to have the rest of it removed. She is now in her mid 20s and is considering having the remaining portions removed due to the possible complication assoicated with it. The first two surgeries were done by a dermatologist and the 3rd by a plastic surgeon. Both did a great job as far as the finish work goes. Her scar looks great but she still has a 4" scar down the side of her face. My nephew had a small one about the size of a nickel located above his left eye close to the scalp. He had it removed in high school. He always said the scar made for a great story when he wanted to be creative. He is now close to 40 and has not had any complications. Recently my dermatologist told me there has been a lot more research done on these types of nevi, and they are being watched much more closely now than they were 20+ years ago. I suggest you search for a dermatologist that has more experience with this type of nevus. My dermatologist knew right away what it was and had seen more than a few cases. The fact that he remembered my daughter from 10 years prior at an appointment for me and thought to mention the new studies when my daughter no longer even lived in the state, I thought was pretty impressive. Definately find a surgeon that does fine finish work.

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  22. My daughter was born in 2009, and she has one on her head, we go for yearly plastic surgeon appointments where they take photos of any changes.

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