Birthmarks

A birthmark is a blemish on the skin that is formed before birth. Many people have birthmarks or may know someone with birth marks. Some of us may have a birth mark and not know it. Some people aren’t happy if they have a birthmark and actually check into birthmark removal, whereas others aren’t bothered at all and are proud of them. Such is the case with the birthmark on Norah Jones’s hand. She proudly shows it to anyone interested.

There are many types of birthmarks with these being just a few of them: stork bites, Mongolian blue spots, strawberry birthmarks, congenital melanocytic nevi, brain birthmark, and port wine stain birth marks. Baby birth marks are birthmarks that show up when the baby is born, as not all birthmarks do.

A strawberry birthmark is red in color, raised in appearance and shaped like a strawberry. It can appear anywhere on the body and appears on one out of every twenty births. The strawberry birthmarks usually start to show between two and four weeks of age and may get quite large before they stop growing. Some may be gone by the age of 5 and 90% of them are gone by age 10. Port wine stain birth marks are just as the name implies. They are deep red in color like port wine and they can cover a very large area. They are usually on the face and don’t disappear, but laser treatment is effective in removing them.

Many people check into laser treatments for birthmarks; however, many dermatologists discourage this due to the possibility of scarring. The scarring may be worse than the actual birthmark, so unless it is life threatening, doctors don’t usually recommend laser treatment for birthmarks.

For years, people have wondered about birth marks and their meanings and the cause of birthmarks. There are a few different factors that scientists believe cause birthmarks. Some birthmarks appear if a child has too much pigment in his or her skin. If a child’s blood vessels are too closely together or did not develop properly is another reason for a birthmark to develop. Others believe there is no cause for them, but that they just appear. As for their meanings, there is no clear answer. Years ago, superstitious folks believed if a pregnant woman was worried about something during her pregnancy, her baby would develop a birthmark. Another unproven superstition was that if a pregnant woman did not get something she craved while pregnant, she would get a birthmark in that shape. An example is a pregnant woman that did not get strawberries she craved while pregnant would have a baby with a strawberry birthmark. For as long as birthmarks have been around there have been superstitions about their meanings.