10 yo son has developed blotchy pigmentation on one side of neck. Worried.

[JennyJoJack]

My son developed brown pigmentation patches on his neck last summer. I put it down to the sun. It has very slowly spread up the left side of his neck. In the last month the brown has been joined by patches of pigmentation loss and white areas that appear almost shiny and scaly in certain light. The dermatologist gave me a fungal cream that did nothing over a month and on the second visit she said it must be normal pigmentation changes. The white patches are now becoming raised, thickening and widening. I am awaiting a second referral. Anybody any ideas? I have gone on the NET and found nothing remotely similar..... It doesn't bother him at all. It bothers me though, of course PS I had him checked for diabetes just in case - negative. It affects most of the left side of his neck now.

Could it be this do you think?

I can't follow the link.....

Can anyone else follow this link please or is it just me? Ta!

Oh I'm sorry! It was a link to this try again...

Does that look anything like it? Or possibly Schambergs Disease which sounds worse than it is....it's essentially a skin disorder and not anything life threatning.

I have a mystery skin disorder and am ab out to see a 2nd dermatologist about it so I do know the stress it can cause....however I also know the worry that googling can cause so feel free to ignore my ideas!

The fact is that skin is a massive organ all of it's own and it can get all kinds of odd things which are treatable but which take some time to get diagnosed and even then it's a case of experimenting with the righrt treatment.

It's good that your DS is seeing a dermatologist and soon, you will have an answer.

Thanks for response NeoMaxiZoomDweebie. the brown splodges on my son's skin looks less harsh and orangey than that - more like mild suntan. To start with I thought the brown patches were dirt! Overall, he has an irregular patch around 6-8cm square of skin on the side of his neck that looks like messy pigmentation. The white parts appear a fraction raised and harder than the skin around it. First derma didn't have a clue. That's why I went a-googling!

Some pigment changes can be triggered by hormones...is could be that your son is approaching puberty and something latent has been "woken up".

Rather like the pregnancy "butterfly mask" some women get...a patch of brown skin over their cheeks.

It's very annoying I know...the dermo may want to do a patch test...I had one and they're no bother at all. It's the best way to really diagnose what's going on.

It's important I suspect to keep his neck out of the sun at the moment. Let us know if you get an appointment. I hope it's sorted asap.

So this second dermatologist took one look at my son's neck and diagnosed instantly. Lichen Sclerosis.

Rare in children. Mostly found on genitalia of grown men and women!! The good news - very treatable with steroid creams. Bad news - the white patches, where he has lost pigmentation will scar.

Trust your instincts - there was nothing 'normal' about my son's brown, white, bumpy, scaly, neck!!!

PS. it's autoimmune, so not caught or passed on, just an over-active immune system....