<#comment>I’m of Irish origin. My son was born with a lot of moles on his body. I also have many moles and few of these have been removed over last few years including one grade 7 melanoma. What could be the future risk of skin cancer in my son’s case?
Your son appears to have multiple congenital nevi, which could be of variable shapes and sizes. As any Caucasian child, he will need to be clinically monitored annually. Keeping your past history of having malignant melanoma, he will require an even more frequent and vigilant monitoring.
I would strongly suggest that he be examined by an experienced dermatologist, and mole-mappings be performed together with Total Body Mapping. This is an important diagnostic and monitoring modality for early detection of malignant melanoma as well as for long-term monitoring of moles. Your son might still be getting more moles called acquired nevi as he grows. So repeated follow-ups and body mapping will help detect new atypical moles.
As a general guideline, you, his school nurse and PE teachers must ensure that he observes standard sun protections guidelines. The golden rule of Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek, Slide provides the essential guideline for such protection; Slip on clothing, Slop on SPF30 or higher sunscreen, Slap on a hat, Seek shade and Slide on sunnies.
Finally, to share a statistical fact that Irish skin falls into Fitzpatrick Phototype-1. These individuals have almost zero chance of getting sun tanned, and have the highest chance of getting sun burn. Repeated acute sun burns over a period of time triggers changes in mole-cells, which could lead to melanoma.
