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How do birthmarks appear?

gorbechev.jpgQuestion

What is a birthmark and how do we get them? My son’s got a small one on his elbow, but I don’t know why.
Mark, Barnet

Answer

Name: Anoud, Queen’s Park
Qualification:
Answer: When a woman is pregnant and she scratches her belly, that’s when a birthmark is for.
(James O’Brien: That is the worst answer in the history of Mystery Hour.)

** Half-definitive **
Name: Burch, Battersea
Qualification: My dad had a birthmark
Answer: I wasn’t going to call in until I heard the answer above! If it’s a vascular birthmark, which is the red mark, it’s actually an excess of blood vessels under the skin. They don’t form properly in the womb and show through the skin.