A 48-year-old woman was left scrambling for answers after she suddenly noticed strange moles popping up all over her body.
According to a case study published in the journal JAMA Dermatology, doctors had no idea what was going on when thousands of tiny moles started plaguing the woman’s entire body in the course of just a few months.
Oddly enough, the unprecedented case became even more bizarre once doctors realized that most of the moles actually seemed to be symmetrical.
According to the case study, it was soon discovered that the woman had eruptive nevi—an extremely rare occurrence that can typically be tied to issues in the immune system, hormone levels, and certain medications.
In this particular instance, doctors believe the small moles had something to do with an immune reaction to eczema.
Just to make sure her health wasn’t at risk, doctors decided to test the moles for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.
As it turns out, many of the moles were melanoma, though that still doesn’t really explain why she developed so many moles in a matter of months.
Because the woman’s moles are not metastatic—they won’t spread any further—doctors are just going to keep monitoring her every three months or so.
