Young child with large mole

My son is 5 1/2 yrs old, and has olive toned skin that tans well (gets that from his Dad).  He has never had a burn, and I have always used sunscreen on him.  A few days ago, I discovered a rather large mole on his scalp.  Because we keep his hair quite long, I had never noticed it before.  I have no idea how long he has had it, but I don't believe he was born with it. It is brown with a very slight tannish halo around it, flat, pretty symmetrical and really there is nothing particularly concerning about it except for the fact that it is quite large.  It measures about 6mm.  He does also have a smaller mole on his scalp as well, and also a mole on the bottom of his foot.  The one on his foot is about 3-4mm, but he has had that for years so we have never worried about it.  Could large moles be genetically inherited?  I have several larger moles on my back (around 6-8mm), as well as plenty of smaller ones (I am very fair and lots of freckles too) and have them checked regularly by a dermatologist.  I have had 2 removed in the past, but they came back benign.  I have never been told that my moles are dysplastic, but assumed that they probably were simply due to their larger size.  Another thing I should add is that my son did receive blue-light phototherapy in the NICU when he was a newborn preemie due to jaundice....I had read that there could be a link between phototherapy and larger moles.  
It concerns me because I can't seem to find any information about children having larger moles anywhere..........it is almost as though it just never happens.  Am I safe to assume it will likely grow even larger as he grows?  
Have you ever seen such a young child with a large mole like this?  
I have made an appointment with his pediatrician this week, and am hoping to get a referral to my own dermatologist, but I suspect it will take months as here in Canada, it is a long long wait to see specialists.

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Looks like a perfectly ordinary mole to me.  Common in kids.  Scalp moles seem to look funny because you don't see them every day.  They don't start at birth.  When you see the pediatrician and later the dermatologist, I am quite confident you will be advised to forget about the mole and leave it alone to grow in proportion you son.

Take care.

Dr. Rockoff

[stressedaboutskin]

Here are some pics of the mole:

http://www2.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=229565693/PictureID=5589002863/a=134309116_134309116/t_=134309116

http://www2.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=229565693/PictureID=5589009136/a=134309116_134309116/t_=134309116

http://www2.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=229565693/PictureID=5589009136/a=134309116_134309116/t_=134309116

[stressedaboutskin]

Sorry, I don't think those pictures will work.  I will try again later.....

[stressedaboutskin]

Ok, these links for pics should work:

http://pic60.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1770/9676347/17575809/330794997.jpg

http://pic60.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1770/9676347/17575809/330795078.jpg

http://pic60.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1770/9676347/17575809/330795366.jpg

http://pic60.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1770/9676347/17575809/330795078.jpg

[AShollenberger]

Hi - I have a 10 year-old daughter with a very similar situation. Three years ago we discovered a round, symmetrical, tannish, mole with a halo, on the back of my daughter's scalp. She keeps her hair long also, so I honestly could not tell you how long it was there. However, I can tell you that she was not born with this mole. We did have the mole examined by a local dermatologist and he it thought it to be unremarkable and common. He advised us to occassionally check the mole and if we began to see any changes we should have it re-examined. To date, it looks basically the same except that it is a little larger. Unfortunately, I never measured the mole. At this time, I estimate it to be approximately the size of my pinky fingernail.

We recently discovered that she has now another very similiar, yet smaller mole, again on the scalp. What I find so interesting is that you mentioned that your son had phototherapy as an infant- my daughter was also treated with phototherapy in NICU due to a bilirubin issue as she was delivered via c-sect, two weeks early due to placenta previa. I wonder if there could be any link to the phototherapy. I will mention this  to the dermatologist when I have her second mole examined. But, I really wanted to let you know that Dr. Rockoff's comment was very similar to that of our dermatologist. I also viewed the photos (I hope you do not mind), and the mole on the picture is very similar to the moles my daughter has - I hope that can be of some comfort.

I wish you all well.

A Shollenberger
Reading, PA