Lilypie Waiting to adopt Ticker

Monday, March 24, 2008

Mongolian Spots

I've been thinking about Mongolian spots lately. I don't know why....odd thing to think about, isn't it?

Mongolian spots are irregularly-shaped bluish, slate-gray, or dark brown birthmarks common in Asian, African-American, Native-American, among other, races. At least one Mongolian spot is present on over 90% of Native Americans and people of African descent, over 80% of Asians, over 70% of Hispanics,and people of African descent, over 80% of Asians, over 70% of Hispanics, and just under 10% of fair-skinned infants (Clinical Pediatric Dermatology, 1993). Despite the name, Mongolian spots have no known anthropologic significance, except for being more common in darker-skinned infants.


Mongolian spots are mostly located on the lower back and buttocks, but can occur anywhere on the body. Here's what I mean:


Mongolian spots are present at birth, and most of them fade (at least somewhat) by age two. Most have completely disappeared by age five. If Mongolian spots remain at puberty, they are likely to be permanent. Fewer than five percent of children with Mongolian spots still have any by adulthood. Those who do tend to be the ones with multiple, widespread spots, or with spots in unusual locations.






I think that, as an adoptive parent, I will ask my pediatrician to document any Mongolian spots that Kaelie may have and to educate those around her (day-care provider, church nursery workers, etc.) about this harmless condition in order to prevent charges of child abuse or neglect.

Credit: www.drgreene.com

4 comments:

Diane said...

OMG, Karen! I have been reading up on mongolian spots, too! I even saw the same picture you posted from Google images! I almost posted this on my blog the other day but got too busy and forgot! How weird is that? Maybe this means both of our daughters will have them, who knows!
I used to work in a daycare center and we had a little girl (Chinese) who's back was covered with them! One of the other workers was horrified when she saw them, but I excitedly said, "Don't worry, I know what those are!" I gave her a mini lesson in Mongolian spot! She was so relieved! They really do freak some people out if they don't know what they are!
:)Di

Karen said...

Hi Diane!

OMG! That is so freaky...great minds think alike! An IA mom in the next town over from us showed me her daughter's Mongolian spots...I'm so glad that I know about them!

Thanks for the info about the blog header. I got one all fixed up and it was so ugly with the background I just deleted it. I will play with it some more later!

prechrswife said...

Mary Joyce has them in abundance. I don't know if I showed you hers or not. We definitely had them documented by our pediatrician in GA and by the one here, although in our pediatrics practice down here, we have a hispanic doctor and a Pakistani doctor, so they were completely of the "no big deal" mentality about documenting it.

the mommy said...

Karen Great post I think I am going to copy it and pot it over at my blog if you are OK with that.....

Susan