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A Mongolian spot, also known as a slate grey nevus or congenital dermal melanocytosis, is a benign, flat, congenital birthmark with wavy borders and an irregular shape. In 1883, it was described and named after Mongols by Erwin Bälz, a German anthropologist based in Japan, who erroneously believed it to be most prevalent among his Mongolian patients.Die koerperlichen Eigenschaften der Japaner.(1885) Baelz.E. Mittheil.d.deusch Gesell.f.Natur-u-Voelkerheilkunde Ostasiens. Bd.4.H.32Circumscribed dermal melanosis (Mongolian spot)(1981) Kikuchi I, Inoue S. in "Biology and Diseases of Dermal Pigmentation", University of Tokyo Press, p83 It normally disappears three to five years after birth and almost always by puberty. The most common color is blue, although they can be blue-gray, blue-black or deep brown.
Male and female infants are equally predisposed to slate grey nevi. People who are not aware of the background of slate grey nevi may mistake them for bruises, possibly resulting in mistaken concerns about abuse. Mongolian Spot - English information of Mongolian spot, written by Hironao NUMABE, M.D., Tokyo Medical University.
Hans Egede Saabye, a Danish priest and botanist, spent 1770–1778 in Greenland. His diaries, published in 1816 and translated into several European languages, contained much ethnographic information. He described the spot on newborns, saying he had seen it often when the infants were presented naked for baptism. A second Danish observer was doctor and zoologist Daniel Frederik Eschricht, mainly based in Copenhagen. In 1849 he wrote of the "mixed" babies he had delivered at the lying-in hospital. He also says that "the observation made for the first time by Saabye about Inuit children has been completely confirmed by Captain Holbøll", who sent him a fetus pickled in alcohol.
Gessain goes on to state that it was only in 1883 that an anthropologist mentions the spot. It was Erwin Bälz, a German working in Tokyo, who described a dark blue mark on Japanese infants. He presented his findings in 1901 in Berlin, and from that point on, Bälz's name was associated with certain skin cells containing pigment. Captain Gustav Frederik Holm wrote in 1887 that his Greenlandic interpreter Johannes Hansen (known as Hanserak) attested to the existence of the birthmark over the kidney region of newborns, which grows larger as they grow older. That year, the Danish anthropologist Soren Hansen drew the connection between the observations of Bälz in Japan and Saabye in Greenland. "This cannot be a coincidence. It is not the first time that the resemblance between the Japanese and the Eskimo has been pointed out." Fridtjof Nansen, the Norwegian polar explorer, said that the spot was widespread in the mixed Danish-Inuit population of West Greenland. Soren Hansen confirmed this. A missionary in Bethel, Alaska, a traditional gathering place of Yup'ik people, reported that the spots were common on children. Rudolf Trebitsch, an Austrian linguist and ethnologist, spent the summer of 1906 on the West Coast of Greenland, and listed all the examples he came across. Gessain went to north Labrador in 1926, looking for children with these spots. In 1953 Dr Saxtorph, medical advisor to the Greenland department (part of the Danish government), wrote that the Greenlanders do not like outsiders to see or discuss these birthmarks; "they doubtless feel as a reminiscence of the time when they lived on a low cultural level".
The presence or absence of the slate grey nevus was used by racial theorists such as Joseph Deniker (1852–1918), the French anthropologist.
The Journal of Cutaneous Diseases Including Syphilis, Volume 23 contained several accounts of the slate grey nevus on children in the Americas:
In Central America, according to these authorities, the spot is called Uits, "pan", and it is an insult to speak of it. It disappears in the tenth month. It is bluish-reddish (in these Native people), and is remarkable by its small size. The mulberry colored spot is very well known in Afro-Brazilians. In Brazil, among individuals of mixed Indigenous American and West African descent (pardo) it is called "genipapo", from its resemblance in color (bluish-gray) to an indigenous fruit of Brazil, named Genipa americana (a Native American word adopted into Portuguese).
They occur in around 80% of Asians, and 80% to 85% of Native American infants. Approximately 90% of Polynesians and Micronesians are born with slate grey nevi, as are about 46% of children in Latin America, "Epidemiology of Mongolian spot". MedScape where they are associated with non-European descent. These spots also appear on 5–10% of babies of full Caucasian descent. African American babies have slate grey nevi at a frequencies of 90% to 96%.
According to a 2006 study examining the Mongolian spot among newborns in the Turkey city of İzmir, it was found out that 26% of the examined babies had the condition. It was noted the prevalence rate was 20% and 31% in boys and girls, respectively. The study also reported that no children born with light hair had the mark, meanwhile 47% of the children with dark hair having it.
In a study published in Hungary in 2013 a total of 2289 newborn infants underwent whole-body screening skin examinations. At least one skin manifestation was found in 63% of the neonates. The most frequently observed in pigmented lesions were congenital melanocytic naevi and Mongolian spot.
Since the last century, extensive research has been made regarding the prevalence of said spot in populations of mixed European-native American ancestry. A publication from 1905, citing field research made by the anthropologist Frederick Starr, states that the spot is not present in Mestizo populations; however, Starr's actual research states that "seven Mayan children presented the spot, three mixed children didn't have it"; Starr therefore does not make an absolute judgement, as he does not say how many mixed children were analyzed in total. Nowadays it is completely accepted that the big majority of Mexico's and Latin America's Mestizo populations have the Mongolian spot and that its presence works as an indicator of the actual degree of mestizaje present in a given population, having its lower frequency in Uruguay with 36%, "El indio en nuestro arte e histiografía", IFD de Minas, retrieved 11 February 2020. followed by Argentina with an incidence 44%, Mexico with 50%-52%, "Tienen manchas mongólicas 50% de bebés" , El Universal, 16 January 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2017. 68% in Hispanic-Americans and 88% in highland Peruvians.
A study performed in hospitals of Mexico City suggests that socioeconomic factors influence the frequency of Mongolian spots among newborns, as evidenced by the higher prevalence of 85% in newborns from a public institution, typically associated with lower socioeconomic status, compared to a 33% prevalence in newborns from private hospitals, which generally cater to families with higher socioeconomic status. According to the Mexican Social Security Institute nationwide, around half of Mexican babies have the slate grey nevus. "Tienen manchas mongólicas 50% de bebés" , El Universal, January 2012. Retrieved on 3 July 2017.
Central American indigenous children were subjected to racism due to their slate grey nevi but progressive circles began to make having the slate grey nevus popular after the late 1960s. Highland Peruvians have the slate grey nevus.
In the Mongolian language, it is known as хөх толбо, meaning "blue spot".
Korean mythology explains the nevus as a bruise formed when Samshin halmi or Samsin Halmoni (), a shaman spirit to whom people pray around childbirth, slapped the baby's behind to hasten the baby to quickly get out from the mother's womb. "Mongolian Mark", the middle third of the 2004–05 novel The Vegetarian, is named after the title character's nevus, which obsesses her brother-in-law.
In Chinese language, it is referred to as 青痕 (pinyin: , ). Among common folk it is said to be caused by the Buddhist goddess of childbirth Songzi Guanyin (送子观音, pinyin: ; ) when she is slapping the baby's backside, telling it to be born. Others say it is because the baby does not want to leave the mother's womb, so Songzi Guanyin will kick it out, leaving the bruise. A small portion of people wrongfully believe it is caused when the doctor is slapping the baby's backside to make it cry. Scientifically, it is also referred to as 蒙古斑 (; ).
In Khmer language, it is known as (ខ្នៅ) which translates to 'Mongolian spot' as well as other skin conditions such as vitiligo and leucoderma.
In Spanish it is called mancha mongólica and mancha de Baelz (see Erwin Bälz). The mark is common among Maya people of the Yucatan Peninsula where is referred to as Wa in Maya, which means 'circle'. In Ecuador, the native Indians of Colta Canton are insultingly referred to in Spanish by a number of terms which allude to the slate grey nevus.
In Thai language, it is known as (ตูดหมึก) which translates to 'ink bottom', or (เคนคราม), which translates to 'blue strain'. has been used to tease those who act, think or speak like a baby, because this Mongolian spot can be seen only during this period of a human being's life.
In Iñupiaq, is it called auttaq or auktaq, which relates to the word for blood and also means 'mole'.
Treatment
As congenital benign nevi, Mongolian spots do not require treatment and in most cases disappear before adolescence. No cases of malignant degeneration have been reported.
Cultural terminology
The slate grey nevus is referred to in the Japanese idiom (尻が青い), meaning "to have a blue butt", which is a reference to immaturity or inexperience.
See also
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