When it comes to parenthood, it is easy to pick out a cough, a spot, or a noise and immediately think something is wrong. And while it is perfectly normal to question and learn from those parenting experiences, one midwife is opening up about congenital dermal melanocytosis.
As Midwife Marley, who is also an educator, author, podcaster, and mom of five, revealed on her Instagram, congenital dermal melanocytosis, or slate grey nevus often looks like bruises. But it is not bruising as all.
Also known as “blue spots,” slate grey nevus is actually a kind of birthmark that are often discovered around the buttocks or lower back of an infant. The most often appear immediately at birth or during your child’s first few weeks of life.Â
“Blue-grey spots are a kind of birthmark that are flat, blue, purple-ish or blue-grey, and can vary in size,” Marley wrote. “They do not hurt.”
According to Mayo Clinic, slate grey nevus can also appear on a child’s shoulders and “tends to dafe during early childhood.” Additionally, the Mayo Clinic reports that slate grey nevus is “more common in black children and those of Asian descent.”
Marley explains further in her Instagram post, revealing how common slate grey nevus can be. “At least one spot is present on over 90% of Indigenous Americans and people of African descent, over 80% of Asians, over 70% of Hispanics, and just under 10% of fair-skinned infants. This 10% is mostly made up of babies with roots in the Mediterranean.”
The birthmark does not require treatment. “If a blue spot is noticed at birth, it should be documented by the person examining your newborn so that they are not mistaken for bruises,” Marley reports. “If it’s not documented and you notice it, ensure a health professional notes it down.”