So.. i have a birthmark (it looks kinda like Nevada/ Bosnia 🤷♂️, btw) and I’m just curious about a few things:
First, at what stage of development do birthmarks appear?
Second, why do birthmarks appear in the first place?
And third, do birthmarks serve any purpose other than possibly being a conversation starter?
UPDATE: Thank you all for the upvotes, awards and comments… for those of you that asked, here’s a picture lol (sorry if it doesn’t look EXACTLY like Nevada/ Bosnia that’s just the best way I could describe it.)
^you ^dont ^have ^to ^be ^so ^mean ^🥺
http://imgur.com/a/OYVBB20
In: Biology
I seem to recall that they’re essentially mass-deposits of melanin, which is what causes pigmentation in skin. I sadly don’t know more than that, I’m mostly here to comment so this (hopefully) gains some traction and gets a more complete answer!
Edit1: added some for information I was trying to tell in the comments, but this got way out of hand in terms of volume for me haha
Edit2: semantics about the term birthmark at the end
1st part is simple, they start to show up at birth (can’t tell you when in the development of the embryo they show up). They grow in later stages too, early childhood birthmarks and late adulthood birthmarks are common.
2nd part not so much since there are many types. We classify them in to 2 types: vascular and pigmentational. Vascular birthmarks occur if blood vessels in a particular area of your skin don’t form the way they should. For example, there may be too many blood vessels clustered in one area or the blood vessels may be wider than they should be. Pigmented birthmarks occur when there’s an overabundance of pigment cells in one area. Pigment cells are what give your skin its natural color.
Edit1: So a lot of people asked about inverse or white birthmarks. As far as I know that is called depigmentation or in extreme cases vitiligo. It is mostly the same cause as the normal birthmark and quite common.
Edit1: In my first comment I didn’t know what causes birthmarks. Since then I’ve been enlightened. It is caused by a hereditary type of mutation that is actually a BENIGN skin tumor in the making.
Edit1: Birthmarks are hereditary, just like everything else. You give or receive half of your genome, therefore what your parents have you and your children are more likely to have the same. This goes for birthmarks, breast cancer, arthritis and even stuff like alcoholism.
Edit2: Birthmark is an improper term. We use nevus in medicine. The popular term suggests that it is in fact formed at birth and nothing else. That is factually untrue. They form arround birth most of the time, but many form in later stages of life too. The example of improper terminology I’ve been using in the comments is this: pineapple has nothing to do with pines and a bit with apples, jusy like birthmark has nothing to do with the actual procces of giving birth but a bit with when the mark usually forms.
1) they can appear at any stage as an embryo and show up later in life ( many different forms of birthmarks)and change over the course of your lifetime
2) some are due to an overproduction or underproduction of melanin and most are hereditary. So are produced from superficial capillaries or an abundance of capillaries these one may change in response to enviromental factors (my sons change from pink to red to purple depending on his mood and temperature).
3) they are a mystery for which I have not been told what purpose if any they serve but should be monitored for changes that could be affecting growth or turn cancerous.
Many people grow out of birthmarks or can have them removed.
If it’s a darker color of skin, it’s an excesses of melanin. If it’s lighter, it’s a lack of melanin. Skin pigmentation is weird. It can change with age, scars, or other injuries/sicknesses. There’s numerous medical conditions that can cause “birthmarks” some of which are serious and others that are normal. Doctors will tell you if the birthmark is a potential serious issue.
Some birthmarks are present initially and then fade as the child gets older. That’s pretty typical.
There’s not one specific reason for birthmarks. They can vary. Skin is strange. Sometimes we get skin tags, moles, discoloration, etc for no good reason. A big part of it that skin cells are rapidly growing, thus allowing the cells to mutate at a much higher rate than the rest of our bodies.
There are many different kinds of birthmarks but they usually fall into two categories: vascular malformations (blood vessels that form wrong) and pigment (skin color that is either lighter or darker than a person’s overall skin). Some are benign like salmon spots which are often seen on babies with less melanin. Others can be an outward sign of more serious genetic issues. Birthmarks can be seen at birth but others may appear up to a year after. Some birthmarks fade over time and others remain indefinitely. To my knowledge they have no other use besides conversation starters.
Speaking for myself, I was born with a small hemangioma birthmark on my back. By the time I was 10 it had faded completely and I am left with a small indentation where it used to be. Contrarily, I have another on my knee that has never gone away. Furthermore, my son developed a mastocytoma (a collection of histamine producing cells) on his left cheek at 3 months old that is still there years later. It looks like a mosquito bite and gets itchy and red when touched. Both of my children and myself were born with salmon spots on our face (commonly called an angel’s kiss) and on the back of our neck (commonly called a stork’s beak mark). As I have a relatively small amount of melanin, the ones on my neck are still faintly visible.
Just a reminder to everyone that top level comments (direct replies to the post) must be explanations.
Anecdotes, jokes, links without a full explanation, and off topic comments are not allowed.
Thank you
There are many types of birthmarks. The most common is the congenital nevus/mole. They are benign growths but are driven by a mutation in the cancer gene NRAS. Giant congenital nevi can take up large areas of the body, smaller congenital nevi likely occur later during development.
Yup melanin and we answer is correct for brown birthmarks.
There is a second kind that makes the red/pink/purple marks they are caused by clumps of blood vessels on the skin. Some times as the skin gets extra blood flow and nutrients it can grow faster and bubble up making a raspberry texture. This kind of birthmark is usually mostly treatable with laser removal and medication.
I have twins year and a half old, both have birthmarks. The blond has the raspberry kind on her. Leg. Had since birth first got darker than lighter ams keeps changing as she ages. The brunet had the. Melinan kind on her stomach which just kinda appeared at age 1, its light and small so we just watch it. I also have the brown kind on my left butt cheek lol that looks like Florida. Its just kinda there and serves no purpose
There is an old wife’s tale that birth marks appear where you were dealt a fatal blow in your former life. I have two, one on my front left abdomen and one on my back on the right. I’m thinking I was impaled.
My best friend in school had a very prominent very bright red birthmark in the middle of his forehead. It started to fade away once he hit puberty. But man the names kids would call him, and !he was a Jehovah’s witness as well. Dude had it rough
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