Removal of birthmark (non-facial). Would you/have you considered this - for children?

[roisin]

DS2 (8) has a birthmark at the top of his bum. It is a 'hairy naevus', it's dark brown and hairy. (We trim the hair.) It's about 3" x 2" at the widest points.

As he's so skinny and his trousers/pants never stay up, it is often spotted by people.

His peers at school call him 'poo bum' and he is increasingly unhappy about it.

We have agreed to take him to the GP to discuss what the options are. But part of me just doesn't really agree with removal as an option, and I think he should just learn to "live with it" and "deal with it".

Btw I have portwine stains (birthmarks) right down the shin of one leg, so I do know first hand what it's like to live with this.

bump

If he is unhappy then I would go to the gp and see what can be done. If they remove it, it's not that bad. Ive had three moles removed and the scars are healing really well. Go private if you can afford it.

I wouldn't for the sake of it, but if he is genuinely unhappy then I would at least enquire into the options available and what would be involved.

Sounds quite big though. I've had moles cut out but they were much smaller. Local anaesthetic, nothing major. Obviously only a GP could really advise on your son's though. If the operation is as minor as mine, then yes, why not.
Any idea what they'd need to do?

What does the teacher say about him being teased like this at school?

Go and see someone - may be able to remove it with lasers or something but you don't want to explore no avanue and levae your child open to cruel taunts. I ahve bad excema on my face and know what it was like dealing with names etc at school

Roisin- has he seen a paediatrician? Suggest he does before you even contemplate removal. A hairy naevus can sometimes indicate a problem deeper inside. If the naevus is large(> a couple of cm), it would need a plastic surgeon to remove, and may require a skin graft. Whilst I would hope that a good plastic surgeon would know about what a hairy naevus can hide. I would make sure that all is "normal" before the referral is made.

My son has a hairy naevus on his face and all the advice we have had is that removing it will leave a scar that is worse than the mole. Smaller than your son's, about the size of 50p soin, so quite large on his little face.

At the moment it doesn't bother him - he calls it his furry spot and seems quite fond of it, but he's only 4 and other children so far have been curious rather than cruel.

I have one on the back of my wrist and my dad handled it brilliantly when I was a child. It was always known as my beauty spot and I was very proud of it

I have one on my leg - always felt I was the lucky one to have one. I used to give it special shampoos in the bath!
However, it may be worth looking into if he really is unhappy.

sorry, didn't see the size when I first read the OP. Naevi in this area are often removed. There is a (small) risk of malignant change in later life, and buttock/ back naevi can be difficult to see, so tend to be removed.

Occasionally naevi in the midline can be associated with spina bifida occulta. This is a VERY mild form of spina bifida, which has no neurological problems, and usually goes undetected until an X-ray is taken for another reason. Usually there are layers of muscle/ ligament between the skin and spinal cord. Very rarely there isn't much separating them, and a plastic surgeon having to deal with the naevus would prefer to know that all is well before undertaking surgery.

here is a bit about SBO. It is unlikely that your son has it, and even more unlikely that he has the more complicated form (you would probably know about it by now), but it would be best to be sure before any surgery is complicated.

I would seriously investigate options for removing it, yes, because of the bad peer reaction if nought else.

Yes,I would definitely explore options to have it removed. It's presensehas no benefit. It can only harm your DS -- I wouldn't like to be called "poo bum".

Thanks all. It's not in the midline tissy. They did mention SBO when they first saw it when he was born.

I don't think they did any screening, just ruled it out quite quickly on closer examination by paed.