Neurofibromatosis and birthmarks are extremely different in terms of causes, symptoms and treatment.
1. Causes: Neurofibromatosis is an autosomal dominant genetic disease with multi-system damage due to gene mutation, which can accumulate in all systems of the body, such as nerves, muscles, bones and so on, and belongs to multi-system disease.
And birthmarks are caused by increased melanin or vascular hyperplasia or vascular malformation of skin tissues during development. The abnormal shape and color of the skin is a skin disease.
2. Symptoms: The symptoms of neurofibromatosis spread to all systems, mainly appearing as milk coffee spots on the skin, freckles on the armpits and neurofibromas. It is also accompanied by symptoms of tumor compression, neurological abnormalities due to erosion of surrounding structures, and cardiac structural abnormalities.
Birthmarks, on the other hand, are mainly patches on the skin at birth or after birth, which can have various colors, some are smooth and flat, some are raised and wrinkled, some may increase in size and discoloration until hemorrhage, but they are only confined to the skin, and generally do not involve multiple systems.
3. Treatment: Neurofibromatosis can be treated by various treatments to reduce the symptoms and recurrence, such as auditory nerve tumor, optic nerve tumor and so on by surgery.
Some of the birthmarks can subside on their own. In addition, general birthmarks don’t need treatment, if they affect the appearance or have the tendency to increase in size or bleed, they can be removed by medication, non-surgical treatments such as liquid nitrogen freezing, or surgical treatments.
It is recommended that patients consult regular hospitals to have their diseases diagnosed by professional doctors and actively treated.