A young man with neurofibromatosis affecting his thigh. This condition, also known as Recklinghausen's disease, is a rare inherited disorder characterised by numerous widespread neurofibromas and by cafe au lait spots (pale coffee-coloured patches) on the skin. A neurofibroma is a benign tumour which grows from the fibrous covering of a peripheral nerve. It is normally symptomless, except when it develops from the sheath of a nerve root, when pain and compression of the spinal cord may occur.