light patch of skin on face

[purplemonkeydishwasher]

DH is very fair. in the sun he just gets pink.
lately i've noticed a patch of skin on his cheek that is lighter than the rest. it's fairly big as well.
i've made an appointment for him to see the GP but does anyone have any idea wha it could be?
should i be as worried as i am?

bump

My ds gets this every summer. He's blonde, but does tan in the sun, and he's had a patch like this every year for the past few years, in a different place each time iirc.

I did ask the GP a few years ago what it was, and can't remember the answer, unhelpfully, only that it was harmless.

hth

My dd (4 yrs) had a white patch on her back -which we noticed soon after she was born. The best way to describe it was no pigment - the doctor also told us it was harmless. It seems to have dissapeared now but I didn't notice when. We recently discovered a patch on my ds's thigh (he is 4 mnths) but I'm not concerned enough to go to the doctors this time. I don't think you need to worry but it's always good to see the gp to put your mind at rest

I had the same thing when I was a child, it was near my eye. I was taken to a specialist when my eyelashes also turned white . It was a given a different name I guess but was a 'lack of pigmentation' the specialist gave me make-up to use but I never bothered. My skin colouring came back but I'm afraid my eyelashes are still white and i have to dye them regularly, which can be a bit of a pain but no big deal. I'm sure its nothing but I'd still go ask the GP.

It could be vitiligo, an utterly harmless patchy loss of pigmentation. I have patches that come and go. Only (slight) worry is that the affected parts are more prone to sunburn. Please don't worry.

my ds had this too, went to the doctor and was told the name for it - which I've completely forgotton of course. Its totally harmless and has disappeared now (he's 4 and olive skinned so would be easily noticed)

I've just googled vitiligo BTW and there are loads of sites that discuss it -- because of course its quite an upsetting and serious condition to have if your natural skin colour is black. There are treatments, but like most autoimmune conditions it is a bit unpredictable and some people respond to treatment much better than others. I've never treated mine and it's really not been a problem for me.

My friend had white patches on his skin. He was black, so it was quite easily noticeable. In his case it was a sort of fungal infection, needed treatment, as if untreated the patch(es) would keep spreading.

my dd gets little patches of white skin on her arms. she normally tans very easily so the patches show up. the patches disappear after time and once in a while a new one pops up.
we were told it was a fungal infection and told to use head and shoulders shampoo undiluted on them. well that made her arms red and sore so now we just moisturise the patches and ignore them.