Tuesday we had our 2nd appointment at CHOP (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia). Our first appointment was December 2008 with the dermatologist, Dr. Yan. Although Hannah’s pediatrician could diagnose her birthmark as a Nevus Sebaceous, he wanted a specialist to confirm the diagnosis and to decide if she should have surgery to remove it. Dr. Yan had recommended that it be removed since it’s in a place where Hannah cannot see it easily to check on it for changes (it’s behind her right ear).

Anyway, we saw Dr. Jackson in plastic surgery. She was very nice and answered all our questions. Because of its size, Dr. Jackson said we could have it removed in one surgery or two. If we opted for 2, they could reduce the size of the scar. It’s borderline in size and her hair covers it so we chose to so it in one surgery so she won’t have to be under anesthesia twice.

In a few days we’ll talk to Dr. Jackson’s secretary about scheduling the surgery, but it won’t be for at least a couple months. CHOP has a surgical facility in Exton (about 45 minutes south of us) so we don’t have to go all the way into the city for the procedure. She will be completely out for the surgery, and it should only take about 30 minutes.

The reason they sometimes remove this type of birthmark is after puberty the make-up of them can change. Some can develop tumors such as basal cell carcinoma, but the most frequent type is trichoblastoma. In very rare cases the birthmark can become malignant. If you’re interested in learning more about this type of birthmark I found some basic information at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevus_sebaceous and more technical info at http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1058733-overview.