Malignant melanoma in children is a rare event, and its incidence in black children is exceedingly uncommon. To date, only seven well-documented cases have been reported.1-3 We report a melanoma developing in a small congenital nevus (<1 cm) in a black child. The purpose of this report is to alert clinicians that the risk of developing malignant melanoma from a small congenital nevus during the first decade of life, even in a black child, does exist but is certainly extraordinary.
Report of a Case.
A previously healthy, 9-year-old African-American girl presented with a history of a small, flat, congenital nevus on the right leg that had enlarged and became nodular over several months. Ulceration and bleeding soon followed without any known preceding trauma. The mother of the patient was emphatic that macular pigmentation was present since birth. There was no family history of malignant melanoma or of any