Nevus
visible, circumscribed, chronic lesion of the skin or mucosa, either congenital or acquired
Nevus or naevus (pl. nevi or naevi) is a nonspecific medical term for a visible, circumscribed, chronic lesion of the skin or mucosa. The term originates from naevus, which is Latin for "birthmark"; however, a nevus can be either congenital (present at birth) or acquired. Common terms (mole, birthmark, beauty mark, etc.) are used to describe nevi, but these terms do not distinguish specific types of nevi from one another.
Classification
The term nevus is applied to a number of conditions caused by neoplasias and hyperplasias of melanocytes, as well as a number of pigmentation disorders, both hypermelanotic (containing increased melanin, the pigment responsible for skin color) and hypomelanotic (containing decreased melanin). Suspicious skin moles which are multi-colored or pink may be a finding in skin cancer.
Increased melanin
Usually acquired
Melanocytic nevus
Melanocytic nevi can be categorized based on the location of melanocytic cells
Junctional: epidermis
Intradermal: dermis
Compound: epidermis and dermis
Atypical (dysplastic) nevus: This type of nevus must be diagnosed based on histological features. Clinically, atypical nevi are characterized by variable pigmentation and irregular borders.
Becker's nevus
Blue nevus (rarely congenital): A classic blue nevus is usually smaller than 1 cm, flat, and blue-black in color.
Hori's nevus
Nevus spilus (speckled lentiginous nevus): This lesion includes dark speckles within a tan-brown background.
Pigmented spindle cell nevus
Spitz nevus
Zosteriform lentiginous nevus
Usually congenital
Congenital melanocytic nevus
These nevi are often categorized based on size, however, the lesions usually grow in proportion to the body over time, so the category may change over an individual's life.
The public source identifies “Nevus” as visible, circumscribed, chronic lesion of the skin or mucosa, either congenital or acquired. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Nevus, visible and circumscribed.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Nevus”, the useful work is to connect “visible, circumscribed, chronic lesion of the skin or mucosa, either congenital or acquired” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q692077. The Library of Congress control number is sh85086568. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Nevus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.