Have you heard of it? Yea me either until this past Thursday. You see, when Zachary was about two years old, I noticed that he had a few patches on the back of his neck that didn’t tan. It looked like he had gotten sunburned and his skin peeled…yet he had never been burnt. I showed it to the pediatrician he had then and he really didn’t think much of it. I think they weren’t really concerned because it was on one side of his neck and if it were something like Vitiligo, then it would be the same on both sides.
We’ve switched pediatricians over the years and our current pediatrician looked at it last year and told me that she wanted to keep an eye on it, but if I notice it spreading, then call her. Well more spots popped up, but we were so close to his nine year check-up that I decided to wait until then. I didn’t even get a chance to mention to her that I noticed it spreading before she brought it up. She told me that she really wanted me to have Zachary go see a dermatologist and have it checked out. She really thought it was something called Tinea Versicolor (basically a non-contagious fungal infection).
Here’s what his neck looks like:
I don’t know if you can see it in the picture very well, but it is on his face (faintly) and his ear.
So we went to U of M hospital to have him checked out. I made Dan go with us because the pediatrician said they will probably do a skin scrape. Zachary is not exactly the best patient in the world. There is NO way I would be able to hold him down. After looking him over, the doctor got out a black light. The spots would glow under the black light if they were one thing and turn a greenish color if they were a fungal infection. They glowed, slightly and were most definitely not a greenish color. We had a little fun with the black light:
The doctor told us that she did not think it was Tinea Versicolor or Vitiligo. She brought in her colleague to have a look at Zachary and she agreed with what the other doctor said. Because it is something that sort of appeared and has been here for a long time, they believe that it is Nevus Depigmentosus. Basically it is similar to a birthmark and as Zachary grows and gets bigger, the spots appear to grow and new, smaller spots appear. There isn’t anything they can do about it. We were told to keep it covered with sunscreen when we are outdoors.
Anyone have any experience with this?
Hi!! Same me!! I never heard and see someone with this condition until my pwn son has. My boy was only 4 month when he has small patch appeared on this chest and then it grow to the back!! I took him to dermatologist and he confirmed it might be vitiligo or birthmark and he referred us to child dermatologist and she looked under the black light and confirmed it is a nevus depigmentous a rare type of birthmark. Now he is 3 year old and they never grew, the size remains constant. Hows your boy doing, does he still have those one or they went lighter with time. Your reply will be appreciated. Thank you
Hello! My son is 20 now and the spots have basically faded!