Mole (skin marking)

Mole is the colloquial term for non-cancerous growths of the pigment-forming cells of the skin and roughly corresponds to the technical term Pigmentnävus. The term mole is used as a synonym for the parent technical term nevus.

Definition

In dermatology, there is no uniform definition of the colloquial terms " mole ", " pepper spot" or " birthmark "; in Switzerland, Austria and Bavaria is " birthmark " common.

Often with liver spot or pepper spot a particular form of Pigmentnävus meant the most common types are nevus, lentigo simplex and solar lentigo.

The mole is the umbrella term for all types of benign growths of the skin, without limitation, the affected cell type. A nevus may be constructed of red blood vessel cells, yellow sebaceous gland cells or other cells and does not have to always be colored brown.

Importance

Because certain types of " liver spots " quite the risk of developing a malignant cancer pose ( the so-called malignant melanoma) in itself, it is important to determine the exact type of all pigmented skin overgrowth (which is the dermatologist reserved). The dermatologist is often a so-called " scan " performed are documented in the form and color, and other characteristics of all birthmarks using a camera and usually analyzed by a computer diagnostic system. In adolescents, such a scan usually every three years and in adults needs to be repeated only every five years if no special risk factors are present (such as dysplastic nevi or congenital nevi ).

For further details and an overview see Pigmentnävus.

According to recent research, the number of liver spots is associated with life expectancy. It is believed that people with a greater number of liver spots also have longer telomeres and thus presumably have a higher life expectancy. Throughout life, the number of moles on the human body increases.

A-B- C -D-E - control

A mole can be benign or malignant. In order to assess whether it is malignant, helps the ABCDE rule:

The more of these rules apply, the faster one should consult a dermatologist and have them carried out a skin cancer screening.

Etymology

The name " mole " is a loan translation of the medical term " macula hepatica ", which refers to the brown (liver- like) hue.

The English word " liver spot" refers in contrast to the German " mole " solely on age spots.

The word " mole " comes from the 16th century, when it was believed that these lesions were caused by unsatisfied desires of the mother during pregnancy.