Nevocytic Nevi and Skin Complexion

Abstract

There exists a large body of evidence that the occurrence of nevocytic nevi is closely related to skin complexion. Nevi are more frequent in Caucasians with a light skin than in those with a dark phenotype. In Orientals and Negroids nevocytic nevi are uncommon. Within a black population subjects with a relatively light complexion have greater total counts than those with a very dark skin. It is concluded that literature data dealing with mole proneness in relation to skin complexion strongly point to an association of high nevus counts with light complexion. This applies to differences between racial groups as well as to differences between complexion phenotypes within a given racial group.

Frequency of Acquired Melanonevocytic Nevi and Their Relationship to Skin Complexion in 939 Schoolchildren

“…When counting nevi in school children. mean counts were also consistently higher in children with fair skin type [5,11,16,17], In our study, in contrast toothers, mean nevus count is related to a more differentiated classification of skin type consisting of seven categories. Even in this splitting sys tem.…”

“…Since no data on the mean number of nevi in our popu lation are available and since only few authors [8,10,11,[15][16][17] dealt with nevus count in children but did not con sider the whole skin area [5] or excluded nevi smaller than 3m m [10,11,16], the present study may provide some fur ther information on developmental phases of nevocytic status in children. Such data may also serve as a basis for the future studies concerning the question of probably increasing mean nevus number in our population.…”

“…8-14], comparison of these data is not possible for several rea sons. Only a few of these studies have to do with the mean nevus count in children [5,10,11,15,16], Since racial dif ferences of the average nevus number and even differ ences within a given population are well known [17], it must be of interest to count moles in an Alemannic (Cau casian) population. Such data have not been available up to now and may serve as a basis for future studies concern ing the questions whether the mean number of moles in our people is stable or even increasing.…”

Increase of Melanocytic Nevus Counts in Children During 5 Years of Follow-up and Analysis of Associated Factors

“…On the second examination, a standardized question¬ naire was distributed to the accompanying parents to evalu¬ ate the propensity of the child's skin to burn rather than to tan in the sun (classification according to the Fitz¬ patrick scale, skin type 1-6), the number of severe sun¬ burns (painful and with blisters; none, 1-2, and more than 3), the child's freckling tendency, the frequency of holi¬ days in hot climates and/or at the sea (1-7 and more than 7) and days with extensive sun exposure per year (14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28) days and more than 28 days). We also inquired about the use of sunscreens.…”