It is sometimes claimed that BN emerges after sun burn (i.e. hypertrichosis.com). Is this the case with the members of this group? Please state your sun exposure history prior to appearance of your BN.
My own case: My BN appeared after several weeks of holiday in Italy with lots of sun exposure.
It is equally important that those who were not much exposed to sun also answer.
Hi Chris,
My 10 year old daughter has a large but very light and mildly hairy Becker’s
patch on her shoulder. She is a dancer, so for her this is a problem. I
understand that they start to develop as children enter puberty. I keep her
in a long sleeved rash guard style suit with spf 50 material, and I am
religious about sun protection. No camisoles or bikinis. So far, it has NOT
been darkening or getting hairier, if that helps! I feel pretty sure that
it is a combination of genetics, hormonal changes, and sun exposure from
what I have read. My thought is that If I can keep the skin white, I might
be able to successfully laser the hair, because hair laser doesn’t work on
dark skin. I am keeping my fingers crossed for her.
----- Original Message -----
From: “chris562” beckers-nevus-cpt5091@lists.careplace.com
To: afchai@verizon.net
Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2007 9:21 AM
Subject: [beckers-nevus] Poll: Did your BN emerge after sun exposure?
Hi Chris! I’m sure BN has to do with the sun. My BN appeared when I was about 10. As a child I used to go out in the sun for hours and hours. Especially from 7-10. It appeared one summer after weeks of long sun exposure. It was lighter at the beginning and I thought it was like a burn from the sun. As the years past it became larger and darker.
Now I avoid the sun, especially try to keep the area with BN away from the sun and I use sun tan lotion with very high protection.
It could become even darker from the sun! I thought that maybe if I tanned in the rest of my body the BN would not make such a difference with the rest of my body but no. It becomes darker so it’s the same thing.
Always wear creams which protect you from the sun in the summer.
I have becker’s nevus on my left shoulder and it seems to disappear when i get the rest of my skin as dark as the nevus is. BN does not seem to get darker during sun exposion.
I do not compeltely disagree to the sun exposure theory. Even I developed it in my puberty and it went on increasing for some years after that. I also used to play a lot in sun. However , for my skin, it has appear on an area ( right arm bicep ) which was completely scovered all the times.
So, as someone just suggested it might be combination of various internal and external factors. Bottomline is, it looks ugly and I pray every one of us can be free from it someday.
Hey I have a Becker’s Nevus on my neck and slightly up onto my face. It showed up permanently when I was 14, but it did show up as a small rash during the summers before that. I was never out in the sun much before then so I don’t think it is at all caused by the sun. I think the sun does affect my BN, but it doesn’t get darker any faster than the rest of my skin.
Hi Friends,
I was just searching through internet for some treatment of this and it
seems Q-Switched Ruby (some kind of a laser treatment ) has been found
effective for this. I am in India and I believe the availability of this
treatment would be scarce. Can someone in UK or US ask around and do some
research on this?
Cheers,
Samir
On 10/19/07, LeeO beckers-nevus-cpt5091@lists.careplace.com wrote:
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I think Ames is correct.
My understanding is that most people develop BN during puberty or if there were born with it…it gets much larger and noticeable during puberty. They think it is hormone related. However, I do not doubt that going into the sun would/could make it darker. The same cells that make the area look darker than the other portions of the skin would be more sensitive to sunlight.
I think mine was a tiny splotch as a child. When I hit 15-16 it began to spread very aggressively. If the hair is an issue, I’m sure you could get electrolysis. I personally would not even try to have the hair treated with a laser just in case it made the skin darker.
this is a very interesting question about whether becker’s naevus occurs after sun exposure or puberty. In my case, i received a very bad sunburn on the area where my becker’s is at, and then it seems as if that is when my beckers began, but this is also when i was 13, so i do not know if it was either the sun exposure or puberty that caused my becker’s.
I think it’s tough to figure out what role (if any) the sun plays in the development of BN. This is a condition that hits during puberty when it just so happens…many people are doing things out in the sun. I think the sun can make it darker…along with the rest of your skin. However, my understanding is that it is primarily triggered by hormone changes that occur during puberty.