title: Clinical characteristics of Becker's nevus in children: report of 118 cases from Italy.
abstract: We performed a retrospective study covering a 10-year period (January 1997-January 2007) on children referred to our unit or followed up for Becker's nevus (BN). The aim of this study was to better define the characteristics of BN in childhood, when this hypermelanosis is more frequent than the limited number of studies might suggest. Our data show that BN in children has predilection sites similar to those in adults, but hypertrichosis is rarer. Sun exposure does not appear to play an etiopathogenetic role. The higher incidence in men reported in adult case studies was not found in children. During and after puberty, androgenic stimulation is known to play a pathogenetic role in BN, especially in men, but our cases were mostly younger than 6 years old.
authors.affiliation: Section of Dermatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Aging and Nephrologic Diseases, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. annalisa.patrizi@unibo.it
authors.forename: Annalisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Patrizi
authors.forename: Matelda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Medri
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Raone
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bianchi
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aprile
authors.forename: Iria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Neri
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006983:Hypertrichosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009506:Nevus / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D013472:Sunlight / Q000009:adverse effects