This boy from Atlanta (USA) is now four years old and has a huge scar all over his back from his surgery. But if not for this operation, his huge birthmark, with which he was born, could have turned into the same large cancerous tumor.
Birthmarks of varying sizes at birth covered 80% of Dylan Little's skin and the largest and thickest was on the back, covering the entire skin from neck to waist. This anomaly is called congenital melanocytic nevus or giant pigmented nevus. It occurs in one case per 20,000 children.
When the boy's parents, 38-year-old Kara and 33-year-old Nikki, found out that such moles were likely to become cancerous, they were very afraid for the health of their son and insisted on surgical removal.
To begin with, a large implant was inserted under the skin of the boy's chest, which was freer from moles, in order to stretch the skin and obtain material for skin grafting on the back. After three months, the implant was removed, and the excess stretched skin was used to close the site of birthmark removal.
But that was just the beginning. In total, baby Dylan has so far undergone 26 surgeries and not only on his back, but also on his forehead, where there were two large moles, on his arms, in the neck and abdomen.
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“We hope that this will help him avoid complications with the disease and ensure a long life,” says the boy's mother. - He had about 50% of his moles removed. Dylan amazed me with how steadfastly he endured everything. He always had a smile on his face and all the nurses loved him.
The child's parents said that some strangers on a walk expressed negative words about their son, openly calling him a monster and knowing nothing about his illness. Therefore, his parents created a Facebook page for Dylan, where everything was told about his condition and melanocytic nevus.
- We are not going to hide his diagnosis, he should not be ashamed of his illness and I do not want him to worry about it.
Dylan receives regular medical examinations to see if his remaining moles have grown in size to prevent them from turning into malignant tumors. According to statistics, the probability of this is about 5-10%, or only 1-2% according to other studies.