00:00 The podcast episode is about birthmarks and the hosts discuss their own experiences with birthmarks and skin tags.

04:41 Birthmarks have been around since the dawn of humanity and people have been ostracized for them due to superstitions and ignorant beliefs, but even in the modern world, people with birthmarks can still face discrimination.

09:09 Birthmarks can be vascular or pigmented, and while science doesn't fully understand why they occur, doctors may monitor them as some can be of concern, such as port wine stains which are caused by a gene that is locked in the "on" position.

14:15 Port wine stain birthmarks can be a symptom of Sturge Weber syndrome, which is a neurological condition, and while they typically do not pose a health risk, they can become darker, lumpy, and disfiguring as a person ages.

19:09 Strawberry marks, which are commonly found on Caucasian girls and typically disappear by the time a child is in double digits, do not have a real impact on development but can interfere with hearing and vision if they are large and puffy and located around the eyes or ears.

24:06 Cafe au lait birthmarks are light brown spots that can appear anywhere on the body.

28:49 Cafe au lait birthmarks can appear anywhere on the body and are tied to a nerve condition called neurofibromatosis if there are six or more of them, while Mongolian spots are bluish gray clusters of pigment cells that usually fade by the time a child is six or seven, and moles can be congenital, acquired, or atypical, with atypical moles being associated with melanoma.

34:14 Different types of cancer have varying levels of public awareness and marketing, and while the term "beauty mark" is often used to refer to moles, there is a lack of well-known celebrities with facial birthmarks, possibly due to prejudice against them.

39:06 Medical treatment for birthmarks is usually unnecessary, but some birthmarks, such as hemangiomas, can be treated with a laser called the pulsed dye laser, which targets the birthmark and breaks up the cells or blood vessels that make up the birthmark, eventually causing it to go away.

44:18 Birthmarks have been associated with various superstitions and beliefs, such as being a mark from a past life or a result of something the mother did during pregnancy, and historically, Russian nobility would display their birthmarks as a way to prove their status.

49:33 Vascular birthmarks are caused by blood vessels under the skin and it's important to teach children not to tease or make fun of others with birthmarks.