Do you need to be concerned if a small painless bump comes up on your head?

Answer 1

If you are refering to small, fixed bony lumps directly behind the ears that do not "float" and are not painful, you shouldn't panic. This trait is genetic and traceable back to certain regions of Africa. If you're not black and don't have any black blood relatives, but your family claims to have native American blood somewhere in its lineage, you might be interested to know that a lot of times people would claim they had NA blood in the to cover up that their offspring had a black parent in the lineage somewhere. Also, there could be some African blood intermingled in with the NA lineage unbeknownst to your family.

I've got these "lumps" myself, my parents took me to the doctor when I was little (about 25 years ago), and he said it was fine. I learned about the genetic aspect about 7 years ago while studying human biodiversity in college.

If the lumps "float", are painful, or haven't always been there, I'd go pay the doctor a visit just to be safe--or simply for peace of mind.

AnswerIf they are on the sides of your neck, below your ears, they are just your lymph nodes. Nothing to worry about.

Answer 2

NOTHING substitutes for the opinion of your doctor, but I would check: Does the bump move around "with your skin" as you gently push, or does it seem fixed to the skull or underlying tissue? I would still go to my doc, but would be less concerned if it moved around with the skin.