Case of Didier Montalvo suffering from Congenital Melanocytic Nevus,popularly the turtle boy

Little Didier Montalvo suffered from Congenital Melanocytic Nevus, which meant a mole grew so large it almost entirely covered his back.

The boy’s mole grew so big that by the age of six it covered his entire back like a turtle’s shell, earning him the nickname of Turtle Boy.The rare birthmark - congenital melanocytic nevus – affects around 1 in 20,000 new born babies but a top surgeon described Didier Montalvo’s condition as the worst he’d ever seen.

Didier’s life was severely affected by the growth, covering more than half of his body circumference, both in the painful itchiness of his skin and how it affected his confidence.

He and his family were shunned by villagers in his home in rural Colombia in South America and his mother Luz was even told it was her fault for looking at a solar eclipse while pregnant.

 

 The six-year-old, from Colombia, was teased and banned from going to school because of the growth.

Locals in his village feared he had been cursed by evil forces because he was conceived during an eclipse.

And mum Luz could not afford to pay for surgery to help rid her son of the birthmark blighting his life.

But when plastic surgeon Neil Bulstrode, from Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London, heard about the boy’s plight, he and his team flew to capital Bogotá to operate on him.





They eventually managed to remove the mole with a series of skin grafts.

Mr Bulstrode said: "Didier's was the worst case I had ever seen. Effectively three quarters of the circumference of his body was affected.

"Obviously he has had to go through a number of painful operations, but we feel it was worth it. It’s great to see the photos of how Didier is getting on now. I'm really happy with how things have healed."

Didier had said: "I want to grow up. But the mole won't let me."