A New Birthmark

A mother brought her child in for a “new birthmark” on his neck. It was a circular brown spot about one inch in diameter.

Upon looking at it, I was embarrassed to reveal to the mother that the “birthmark” was nothing more than dirt. If I had noticed something similar on one of my own children, I would have wet my finger with my own saliva and miraculously it would have disappeared. Considering that this would not have been professional with someone else’s child, I took an alcohol swab from the drawer and I performed the birthmark removal.

As the mother left the exam room, she thanked me and said, “I didn’t know that alcohol could get rid of birthmarks.” I didn’t have the heart to disagree with her.