Brown Mole with white circle

[SMMolloy]

My 8 year old son has 2 brown, slightly raised moles on his torso that have smooth borders. The strange thing is that the have developed a white concentric circle around them. The white part is not raised, but is whiter then his normal skin tone.  He has several other brown moles on his body that do not have this ring around them. Should I be worried? Should I take him to have them looked at?

[Dr_Aparna]

Hi,
Moles are a clump of cells with different pigment (colour) than the surrounding skin. The surface of moles varies from smooth to pebbly and may contain heavy dark hairs or no hair growth. The number and type of moles that a person has is largely determined by family history.
Moles are occasionally present at birth and usually start appearing between 1 to 4 years of age, increasing in number into adulthood. Moles may be flat or raised and may contain a few coarse hairs.
There are a wide variety of moles seen.Halo moles usually occur in young adulthood with colour being lost around one or several moles. The mole may then fade and disappear altogether leaving a white area which takes on the same colour as the rest of the skin in some cases. Halo moles are not a risk factor with the risk for melanoma being the same in these moles as for the rest of the skin.
When any mole in the body starts changing color, size or shape then it is time yo get it evaluated.
ref:http://au.health.yahoo.com/041101/25/1v1n.html

[nikitanoel90]

I am 18 years old and about six months ago I noticed a mole on the middle of my back. The reason that I noticed it was because it itched and I scratched it and noticed it was risen off the skin. It was very small so I figured it was nothing. I noticed it was a dark brown color with a spotty texture. I stopped noticing it until today when I itched again and felt it through my sports bra and shrit. It has grown significantly and I can't tell exactly what it looks like because of where it is located on my back, though I can see that it is about the size of a pea and has a strange ring around it. It is risen quite a bit off of the skin. My family has a history of cancer, and in my lifetime 6 of my famiy memebers have passed away from it. My grandmother died of melanoma skin cancer and that worries me too. I plan on going to the doctor, but what other suggestions do you have? I am afraid if it is something serious, they may overlook it and let it go as nothing.

I am worried!
Nikita