PARIS, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Children who received light therapy for jaundice as infants appear to have an increased risk of developing skin moles in childhood, says a French study.
Jaundice or hyperbilirubinemia occurs when bilirubin, a yellow pigment created as a byproduct of the normal breakdown of red blood cells, cannot yet be processed by a newborn's liver and builds up in the blood, turning the skin, whites of the eyes and mucous membranes yellow. During phototherapy, the treatment of choice for jaundice, babies are placed under blue lights -- bili lights -- that convert the bilirubin into compounds that can be eliminated from the body.
Dr. Emmanuelle Matichard of Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital, Saint-Antoine Hospital, Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris and colleagues assessed the presence of melanocytic nevi, or moles, in 58 French children who were 8 or 9 years old at the time of the study.
Sixty-three percent had moles that were 2 millimeters or larger, and there was an average of 2.09 moles per child, while those who were exposed to phototherapy had an average of 3.5 moles 2 millimeters or larger vs. 1.45 moles per child, according to the study published in the Archives of Dermatology.
