What are the characteristics of pathological café-au-lait spots?

Café au lait spots are a type of common spots. The most common feature is that the edges of the spots have regular pigmentation, and sometimes they are accompanied by multiple neurofibromas. From a clinical point of view, the incidence of this disease is very high, but the cure rate is not high, and it may even leave scars. Experts say that the best way to treat coffee spots is surgical removal, and the possibility of recurrence is very small with advanced technology.

The main characteristic of coffee spots is that they are pigmented spots with regular edges, and they are closely related to multiple neurofibromas, and sometimes the two occur together.

The incidence of coffee spots is also very high. About 10% to 20% of adults have coffee spots, but the symptoms, size and shape are slightly different.

In the histopathological examination of coffee spots, we can also find that the histopathology shows that the total amount of melanin in the epidermis has increased, there are scattered abnormally large melanin particles, and the number of melanin* in the basal layer has also increased.

1. Before puberty, neurofibroma has almost no other abnormal appearance except for the appearance of cafe au lait spots on the skin.

2. Some patients with café-au-lait spots will subsequently develop neurofibromas on the skin, optic nerve gliomas in the eyes, and tumors in various organs of the body.

3. Some people may only have café au lait spots throughout their lives, while others may develop various neurofibromas at an early age.

The appearance of coffee spots is mainly due to the relatively active metabolism of local melanin*, which makes the treatment results sometimes difficult to predict.

The average number of treatments for café au lait spots is relatively high. After treatment, some lesions may show reactive pigmentation, making it difficult to continue the treatment process.

When the affected area shows symptoms of darkening of pigment, it is necessary to wait until the new reactive darkening of pigmentation subsides naturally before continuing treatment.

After surgical treatment, café au lait spots generally do not show symptoms of hypopigmentation or loss, the texture of the affected area does not change, and scars usually do not form.