Café au Lait Spot

Café au Lait Spot

French for ‘my coffee is more sophisticated than your coffee’, café au lait spots are birthmarks. Like the port wine stain, they, in and of themselves, are not harmful and are called such due to their light brown color. However, café au lait spots can be an indication of the presence of many diseases, such as tuberous sclerosis, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome and Hunter syndrome. The presence of at least six café au lait spots, at least 5 millimeters in diameter (before puberty) or 15 mm (after puberty) aid in the diagnosis of Neurofibramatosis I (NF-1). NF-1 is a human genetic disorder that was once thought to be the Elephant Man’s diagnosis du jour, but has since fallen out of favor with medical historians.