Strawberry Birthmark

[beaveringaway]

Apologies if not the right area to post this...I'm just looking for some experienced mumsnet gets really.
My DD is nearly 5 months old and has a large strawberry birthmark on her head, it's grown from a flat mole size to a 1cm high bump and about the size of a 20p.
Don't get me wrong she's beautiful and I love her to bits but I hate looking at it and feel anxious meeting new people as I know they're thinking what on earth is that and I have to shoe horn an explanation of what it is into conversation. People also look when we're out and about.
What's people's experience of them going away and how long did it take? Docs have said it'll go on it's own and I don't want to follow any medical procedures for vanity's sake! Thanks!

[honeybee1986]

Hi
My daughter had one come up when she was 3 weeks old above her lip. She is now 16 months and it's very faded now I hardly notice it, it is also now flat. The doctor said it will fade completely over time so please don't worry .

[NoqontroI]

My dd's completely went by age 7. It was in a bad place though where it got infected sometimes, which is probably why it took longer.

[Theresomethingaboutdairy]

My daughter had a really large one, like a pp said it was in a bad place and frequently got infected. Initially it got bigger but after a few months it started fading. It was gone by the time she was 5 but it covered most of her bottom, so that's how big it was. The consultant at the time told us that most fade by age 2.

[PeasAndHarmony]

My DS has a similar sounding one to your daughter but bigger. It has massively faded and shrunk but you can still see pinky baggy skin at age 10, we're waiting on an appointment with a specialist to see whether anything further needs to be done like a little op to tighten the skin.

It's way faded and not that noticeable at all now.

[Bazookapie]

Please don’t worry - DGS had one very similar in size, also on his head. It was quite hard for his mum as she also felt people were staring but his hair grew and the red faded. Well before he was two it was just a slightly raised skin coloured bump under his hair and now at three has completely disappeared.

[BellyBean]

DD had one above her eyelid, grew to about the size of a 5p. it was monitored as could have affected her vision if it had grown down but if I recall correctly it didn't get any bigger after 5 months and was pretty much gone by 2 years.

Now at nearly 4 you'd be hard pressed to know there was anything there, her eyelid has stretched slightly but that's it.

[Scribblegirl]

My sister had one when she was a baby in the 90s, it faded just before her 2nd birthday. She's 25 now and you couldn't tell she'd ever had it - totally gone.

[LoniceraJaponica]

They usually start to go from about 2 years old. DD had one on her back and one on one of her vocal cords. It occluded her airway so she had a tracheostomy for over three years until it completely disappeared.

You can't see where the one on her back was either. Please don't worry, they do go.

[beaveringaway]

Thank you for all your replies it's been very reassuring

[JellySlice]

I have one on my face. Unlike the other children's described here, mine kept growing for a few years, probably until I was 3-4, but it was wide rather than high. Then it started fading very very slowly. It was virtually un-noticeable by the time I started secondary.

By the time I left, the only time anyone ever noticed it was if they were looking at my profile when I laughed (that bit of my face wrinkles differently when I laugh). I generally point it out to hairdressers, because although it's barely visible, it does bulge very slightly, so they have to be careful not to catch the comb on it when doing the hair near my temples.

It can honestly say that it has never bothered me. People used to ask if I had fallen off my bike.

As an adult, I asked my parents how come they were never bothered by it. "Of course we were bothered by it," they replied, "but we didn't see why we should put that on you." So they never let on.

[Judashascomeintosomemoney]

DD had quite a large one on her chest (flattened but wider than the one you’ve described). Although it wasn’t visible when clothed as a baby I used to think she would hate it when she got older as it would show if she wore vest tops etc. Firstly, she didn’t hate it when she was little, she called it her special strawberry and told everyone willing to listen about it (I think she looked down on those without one ). Secondly, by the time she was about 7/8 it was barely noticeable it had faded so much. Finally, now at 14, you can’t even see where it was anymore.

[JellySlice]

she called it her special strawberry and told everyone willing to listen about it

me too!

[SwishswishBiTCH]

My ds1 is 3 years old and still has his. It's on his back. It's not small nor is it large. It hasn't faded at all but I know children with them that have. Honestly I don't think there's much that can be done about them.

Let people stare. . I know the feeling because my son gets it when we're swimming. It's nothing to be ashamed of, It makes your daughter, its who she is.

[MonaTheMoaner]

DD2 has a big raised one on the back of her head that was bright red. It started fading to pink then to white and down in size by about age 4 and now she's 7. It's still white and raised and hasn't gone away completely but better than at birth.

She had one behind her ear around 20p sized that faded much quicker and was completely gone by age 4.