Nevus of Ota?

[lilypad]

Yes, insurance covered 100% of my daughter's treatments so I'm not sure what the cost without insurance would be. We have blue cross/blue shield preferred provider plan. She was only a year old when she started the treatments and now she is almost two. We communicated with Dr. Nelson of UCI via email before scheduling the appointment (sent pictures to him). We had a consultation the day before the treatment because we flew in from out of state.

[Jvnca]

Hi I'm 28 years old with a birthmark called Nevus of Ito on my right leg. It's similiar to Nevus of Ota but it's just located on my leg. It's about the size of a sheet of paper and I'm going to have laser therapy done on it. Has anyone had this done before? How long is the healing time and how long did it take to notice a difference? Thanks for your help

[deeinkc]

Originally Posted by lilypad

Yes, insurance covered 100% of my daughter's treatments so I'm not sure what the cost without insurance would be. We have blue cross/blue shield preferred provider plan. She was only a year old when she started the treatments and now she is almost two. We communicated with Dr. Nelson of UCI via email before scheduling the appointment (sent pictures to him). We had a consultation the day before the treatment because we flew in from out of state.

I'm so glad you posted this because I emailed Dr. Nelson a while back to inquire. Lilypad, can you describe how the procedure went for your daughter? How was the recovery time? I would also have to fly out for treatments, so it would be very expensive. If you're willing to share your experiences and photos of the results, that would be greatly appreciated and helpful to many. Thank you!

I'm glad to have started this thread and opened up the communication for people with Nevus of Ota. It is a very lonely condition, so it's nice to hear from others who can relate. God bless everyone.

[deeinkc]

Originally Posted by lilypad

Yes, insurance covered 100% of my daughter's treatments so I'm not sure what the cost without insurance would be. We have blue cross/blue shield preferred provider plan. She was only a year old when she started the treatments and now she is almost two. We communicated with Dr. Nelson of UCI via email before scheduling the appointment (sent pictures to him). We had a consultation the day before the treatment because we flew in from out of state.

I'm so glad you posted this because I emailed Dr. Nelson a while back to inquire. Lilypad, can you describe how the procedure went for your daughter? How was the recovery time? I would also have to fly out for treatments, so it would be very expensive. If you're willing to share your experiences and photos of the results, that would be greatly appreciated and helpful to many. Thank you!

I'm glad to have started this thread and opened up the communication for people with Nevus of Ota. It is a very lonely condition, so it's nice to hear from others who can relate. God bless everyone.

[lilypad]

The procedure was very fast, only about 15 minutes. She received general anesthesia so she did not feel any pain. The recovery time was about a week for the first treatment (crusting and small pinpoint-like punctures over the treatment area), but all subsequent treatments required very little recovery time (it just looked like she had a mild sunburn for a few days). She did not seem to be in any pain at all following the treatments. It has faded quite significantly each time, although there are still some very slight areas on her cheek that may require additional treatments. Dr Nelson and his staff are wonderful and experts in the field.

[jazzyskye]

*"What happened to your face?"
*Being pulled aside by males to make sure no one is hurting me.
*"Were you in a car accident?" (Uhh, how do I respond to that? Maybe, "No, try again?" :P, or maybe just a simple "no" and a smile is enough.)

^So annoying. Glad to know I'm not alone.

I went to the dermatologist today and was told that I have Nevus of Ota. I googled it wayyy before the appointment and already knew I had it!

I'm 22 and African-American. I've always had a VERY faint, barely noticeable mark under my right eye. until a couple years ago, I started being asked, "What happened to your eye?" I thought it was funny at first, didn't see what the big deal was, until I just started becoming very insecure about it. It's very noticeable now, it's dark-colored and obvious.

My father has told me he thinks it changes according to my mood. I've suspected that too.

I would love to get treatment for it! I wear Dermablend everyday, and I'm not a makeup chick. But I wear it because I want to know that people are looking at me, not my birthmark.

Confidence is everything. It's not easy, especially with comments that are outright RUDE. Next time someone asks me, "What happened?" I'll say, "I was born." You don't ask people, especially strangers, what happened to their face...that's just common courtesy.

[Swede]

Hey fellow rare birthmarkers,

I'm 22, female, caucasian (as far as i know all my family descendants have been caucasian) and I have Nevus of Ota in and around my right eye.....

- I have the bruised looking mark on my right temple and under my eye

- I have a darkened/patchy scelera (white of my eye) in the right eye

- I have heterochromia so my right eye is hazle where as my left eye is blue and I was born with 2 blue eyes. My hazle eye changed from blue to hazle when I was a child, but the darkening in and around my eye did not appear till puberty. Since, it has been gradually getting darker.

- I have a different glasses/lense prescription in each eye as my right eye has astigmatism whereas my left eye is long sighted.

I am a birthmarky person though!...I also have a red strawberry kiss birthmark on my forehead! Which has scarred pretty bad! Two birthmarks on my face...one blue one red, woah. And then I have 2 more strawberry kisses on my body and lots of the general brown ones which mainly appear when im tanned.

Its comforting to hear so many others have this. People do comment on it alot. But they usually tend to notice the different eye colours more, as that is rather odd. Not quite sure what I can do? I'm pretty sure the laser treatment does not work inside my eye...as that is the worst part as my make up covers the darkening on my skin quite well. Not too fused about the skin bit just yet. Should I just go for check ups yearly?

Thanks guys.

[ariasm2]

Hi Everyone,

I was also diagnosed by this condition late last year. The nevus de ota that I have is under and around my right eye. I emailed Dr. Nelson earlier today and asked him if he can help me with this. Fortunately I am only about 50 miles away from his office and can visit his office if I need to.

I do feels everyone's pain when it comes to having this condition. I do not like the fact that everytime I meet someone they ask me how I got a black eye. I always have to explain to them the condition that I have and then they feel bad which only makes me feel worse.

Does anyone know of any good makeup concealers to cover nevus de ota? My dermatologist recommended me some but I have yet to try them. Any help from you guys would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[jazzyskye]

Dermablend is pretty good...I tried drug store products but they didn't help much. Just curious, what concealers did your doc suggest?

[ariasm2]

Dermablend and CoverMark are the two brands that my dermatologist recommended to me. I have not had a chance to use them yet. I will try this week and let you know how each goes.

Thanks for your reply.