haemoglobin/strawberry birthmark

[Alannah87]

Hi,
My daughter (12 weeks old) had a strawberry birthmark appear beneath her left eye about two weeks after she was born. I was told by HV and at 6 week check that it would disappear eventually and that it was nothing to worry about.

The birthmark continued to grow and started to grow over her eye- with the possibility of it affecting her vision I felt we needed another opinion. I returned to the drs and was referred to a peadiatrician who has put her on Propranolol. I have looked on GOSH and the birthmark support group website and seen that Propranolol has only been used I the last ten years in babies. I have been giving her the dosage advised for a week and a half now, I've noticed a difference in the birthmarks appearance - it definitely looks smaller.

My main concern is the use of propranolol. She hasn't been checked in anyway- blood pressure/sugars etc. I was wondering if anyone else had experience of this and how it went? Do I need to push to have her monitored more closely whilst on Propranolol?

I would love to hear about any experience of this.

Thanks in advance

Propananol has only been used 10 years for birthmarks (haemangiomas ). I understood much longer and higher doses for heart problems in babies. This however was not a healthy tranche of population , so was hard to assess side affects ( which is why it comes with so many warnings ). My daughter had it as birthmark treatment for over a year, no issues except I blame it got her still years later being a bad sleeper.

Personally I would avoid for cosmetic reasons ( though doubt they would offer it), but would treat for functional issues. Near the eye can impact sight.

There is a topical alternative, which may be appropriate. If it's not currently problematic and not rapidly changing monitoring may be an option.

They monitor blood pressure when Propananol is started. Dd was admitted as a day case. There are instructions about feeds to counter impact on blood sugar. But ongoing monitoring is not standard.

Read your post more fully. See you are already on Propananol. Only additional monitoring we had was when increasing the dose. (Increasing amount per kg rather than regular weight adjusted increases )

Thank you.

My little one hasn't had her BP checked at all yet, she's been on it for almost two weeks and the dosage has been upped, I'll be ringing the peadiatrician tomorrow to ask for more thorough check over her. It's quite scary stuff to give to a baby.

Yes I agree, I wouldn't have done anything for cosmetic reasons, it's purely because it started to grow into her eye.

Are you under GOSH or a different hospital?

3 years ago at gosh babies were admitted as day cases to start treatment. The protocol may have changed.