Wherefore comest the Anti-Mole?

May 31, 2006 9:29 AM

Wherefore comest the anti-mole?

So with the advent of summer (in the northern lattitudes of course) and the darkening of my tan, I've noticed that on each forarm I have exactly one mole that lacks coloration. Now these anti-moles (as it were) have been there as long as I can remember. It's quite possible that they are just parts of my skin that haven't tanned, so that during winter when I'm my normal pale self they aren't visible. I'm going to rule out skin cancer of any nefarious sort because they reappear each year. Anyways, is there a name for these things that I can do a google search with? Searching for white mole doesn't give me much that's usable. Hope me!

posted by blue_beetle to health & fitness (9 comments total)

Vitiligo, perhaps?
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:32 AM on May 31, 2006

Cometh.
posted by xanthippe at 9:46 AM on May 31, 2006

Oh freaking hell, it's probably just an amelanotic lesion/mole, not vitiglio. This is why you just ask your doctor for medical advice.
posted by kcm at 9:47 AM on May 31, 2006

or even vitiligo!
posted by kcm at 9:48 AM on May 31, 2006

It may be a chicken-pox scar. I had those white patches when I was younger. They faded with time.
posted by BigLankyBastard at 10:16 AM on May 31, 2006

It might be an intradermal nevus (mole). They reside a little deeper into the skin (dermis) and can often be amelanotic.
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 10:34 AM on May 31, 2006

Maybe it's an ash-leaf spot, diagnostic of tuberous sclerosis.

Picture's worth a kiloword.
posted by ikkyu2 at 1:29 PM on May 31, 2006

A scar of some sort which is only obvious when you tan. I have plenty of those.
posted by Goofyy at 4:48 AM on June 1, 2006

Or the start of idiopathic albinism.
posted by docpops at 12:03 PM on June 1, 2006