My little Indian...

For close to a year and a half now Spencer and I have wondered what it was making the skin on Ian's right arm and shoulder A LOT darker than the rest of his skin.  He also has a small white spot thought to be an ash-leaf spot, it's the size of a dime, on the center of his back that has NO pigmentation at all.  We spoke to his pediatrician about the matter and he suggested that we take Ian in to see a dermatologist, so we did a year ago, but the visit with the doctor was very brief and the doctor didn't really address our concern; instead he just addressed the eczema that Ian had on his cheeks, arms and legs. We were in and out of that doctors appointment in less than 10 minutes, still clueless about the strange hyper-pigmentation on Ian's arm and shoulder.  I had almost given up hope of finding a doctor who could tell us WHAT Ian's skin condition was, that is until a couple of months ago, when in the Fall, we took our youngest, Bentley, up to see a pediatric dermatologist at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake for another matter.  The doctor Bentley went to see is one of the country's best pediatric dermatologists, so, after Bentley's visit I decided to ask Ian's pediatrician if it would be worth my while taking Ian in for a consultation with the same doctor.  He said yes, wrote us a referral and I made the appointment immediately.  We had to wait two months to get the first available appointment with the doctor; like I said, she's one of the best in the country at what she does so she's a very BUSY woman. 

The date of Ian's appointment finally arrived during the first week of February.  At his visit with the doctor, she spoke with me for about 20 minutes and then examined his arm, shoulder, back and the rest of his little body with an ultraviolet light.  She concluded that the patches of
hyper-pigmentation she was seeing on Ian's body were from a skin disorder called pigment mosaicism. 

Mosaicism is a condition in which cells within the same person have a different genetic makeup.  She probed me about our family history, and after ward suggested that the Native American ancestry I have inherited from my mother's family has found it's way to my son's DNA and this is the reason patches of his skin are hyper-pigmented. Amazing!  She wasn't absolutely positive that was the case, but she was pretty confident. For now, she assured us that we don't need to worry about the peculiar markings, but instead just need to keep an eye on them and inform her if he ever gets any more.  That being said and done, it was a HUGE relief to finally have some answers!