A diagnosis of neurofibromatosis type 1 is made in children with two or more of the following criteria: skin lesions (neurofibromas);
multiple spots on the skin that are darker than a patient’s normal skin tone (sometimes called “café au lait” spots because on people with lighter skin tones, they are similar in color to coffee with milk);
freckling in the groin and underarms, eye abnormalities, including lisch nodules (tiny pigmented tumors in the iris); particular skeletal abnormalities such as scoliosis or tibial dysplasia; a family member with NF1.