In our section «Ask an expert a question», our reader Victoria asks:
«The child is 6 years old. Lately I notice that more and more moles are forming on his body. Yesterday it wasn’t there yet, but today another one appeared. The baby’s skin is light. We didn’t sunbathe much in the summer. Tell me, is it dangerous?»
— Moles can be congenital and acquired. They appear and disappear during life, over time they can change shape, size, lighten or darken. And that’s fine. The main thing is that in six months the neoplasm has increased by no more than 5 mm, and the color remains uniform.
Moles can become active during periods of hormonal changes: at 3 years old, at 6 years old, during puberty, during pregnancy and menopause, as well as under the influence of sunlight, endocrine changes or due to injury.
The number of moles also depends on heredity. People who are genetically predisposed to the formation of moles, it is better to show themselves to a dermatologist once a year. This is especially true for those who have a lot of them — in this case, it is much more difficult to track the behavior of moles.
What else should alert you: a sharp change in the color of the mole, a violation or complete absence of the skin pattern, peeling or redness that has arisen around the mole, blurred outlines and its compaction. Dark, with a «lacquer» surface and sharply separating from the surface of the skin, neoplasms also need to be shown to specialists because of the risk of their degeneration into malignant tumors.
It is absolutely impossible to remove moles from a cosmetologist. Only a doctor can make a diagnosis, choose the right method of removal, and also send the removed mole for histological examination to exclude a malignant disease. In 90% of cases, this study dispels all fears and recognizes the mole as benign.
