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Original poster

Hemangioma (birthmark) remove it or not?

16 replies

Leoladyofleisure · 02/08/2007 08:27

dt2 has a hemangioma on his back - its a big red bubbly birthmark. Its growing quite quickly and our doctor thinks he should have it removed and sent us to see a dermatologist. The dermatolotist shrugged his shoulders and said its up to us, it should be no great health risk and it should eventually disappear, but he would also be happy to remove it. He said he would freeze it off.
The normal doctor - who has been observing it - said again last week that it should be removed because it is growing quite fast.

Does anyone know anything about these or had one removed by freezing or laser treatment?

OP posts:

skirmish · 02/08/2007 08:33

my ds has one but no-one has ever said anything about taking it off - they all say it will go in its own time, so will be interested to see what others say

Leati · 02/08/2007 08:33

If neither one of the doctors think that removing it is harmful then I would remove it. Freezing is the same thing they do to warts, not a biggie. I have seen people get burned from lasering but only at the hands of a under qualified tech.

Good Luck!!!!

Leati · 02/08/2007 08:35

skirmish,

You are talking about a strawberry which do usually fade on thier own. The birthmark Leoladyofleisure is talking about is growing. That is the part that I find concerning.

totaleclipse · 02/08/2007 08:37

dt1 has 5 strawberry marks, theydid frow to start with, but are now starting to fade, she is 3.6.

skirmish · 02/08/2007 08:38

not talking about a strawberry one at all...my ds has the 'growing' type - all health professionals have said to leave it alone and it will fade gradually (no-one knows when etc)

Ceolas · 02/08/2007 08:39

How old is he? My DD2 has one of these on her elbow. It was a real pain when she was tiny because the blood vessels were so close to the skin. She had eczema too and it kept breaking down and getting infected. It appeared to grow for a few months then stop.

However when we saw the dermatologist we were told it would fade and eventually disappear. I decided I would not do anything about it unless she was very bothered about it.

She's now a month off being 6 and not in the least bothered. It hasn't been a problem since she was about 6 months old in terms of bleeding. It's much lighter in colour now and is hardly noticeable. I won't do anything about it unless she initiates it.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

chopster · 02/08/2007 08:46

Maybe you could give it a bit longer then decide? My best mate's ds1 had one above his eye, which was really bad when he was younger, and he was always knocking it and it was bleeding. But now it hs faded so it is barely noticeable. I would have though the dermatologist knew more than the gp too, he is the expert.

Leati · 02/08/2007 08:53

www.drgreene.com/21_1107.html

skirmish

It appears that they are one in the same. One type grow and one does not. It does say that eventually they fade. Anyway, reading this make me rethink having removed because it appears to be harmless. Ask your doctor why he thinks it should be removed? If he has a valid reason then give it more consideration.

Original poster

Leoladyofleisure · 02/08/2007 08:58

Thanks everyone. he is almost 6 months.

The gp is concerned because it is growing and it is very raised and prominent.
I've had a look on the internet and can't find any mention of removal by freezing only by laser . I'm wondering about getting a second opinion.

Ceolas, has your dd's one flattened out or was it already flat?

Skirmish - how old is your ds? Is it still growing?

OP posts:

Ceolas · 02/08/2007 09:09

It was very bumpy to start off with, but is almost as flat as the rest of the skin now. It has a slight 'crepe paper' texture to it

Ceolas · 02/08/2007 09:12

Hers was like this although not quite as big. It really is hardly noticeable now

MrsWeasley · 02/08/2007 09:20

my DD had one the end of her nose so couldnt hide it at all. It came when she was about 4 weeks old and got redder and bigger for a few years (this seemed to happen in quick spurts) and then it slowly started to fade. It was still visable when she started school but now she is 12 and it's almost dissapeared. She knows its there but no-one else notices it.

If its not causing any bother to your DC I would be tempted to leave it and see how you and he feels when he is a bit older. Being on his back its not going to be seen by others as much. BUT if it bothers him or you get it taken off if they can.

HTH

chopster · 02/08/2007 09:24

leo, there is a lot of info about freezing, but it is jsut rather technical. I found this -

'Cryotherapy is preferable to laser photocoagulation
when the hemangioma is anterior, when there is subretinal
fluid that would reduce the efficacy of laser
photocoagulation or when the hemangioma is more
than 3 mm in diameter.'

There seems to be a lot of debate about the best methods of removing birthmarks. If you do search for the medical term cryotherapy rather than freezing you do get info.

Original poster

Leoladyofleisure · 02/08/2007 12:20

aha Chopster, I didn't realise that is what cryotherapy is !

Ceolas - this picture puts it into perspective a bit (O(), ds's is really tiny compared to that and probably not worth removing.

OP posts:

lottitots · 14/01/2009 19:07

my daughter is 6 months old and she has a very large birthmark on her arm, it only started of tiny but got much bigger over time and kept scabbing over,we went to the doctors and they wanted her reffered straight away as my daughter was starting to get pain from it. while we were waiting to be reffered it got warse and literally exploded,she goes to alderhey hospital twice weekly to have her dressings changed and was supposed to have laser treatment and steroid injections but the day she was to have treatment she had a chest infrction so they would not do it,since then we have been told that it actually looks like it is getting better and she will more than likely not need laser, until tuesday when she went for her dressing changed they were not happy that it was not healing so now she is having it cut out this tuesday coming, worried sick just hoping everything will go fine and then she can finally do things a 6mth old should be doing crawling for one we were to scared to let her try in case she knocks her arm. it will be a relife to have it over and done with,so i would say to people thinking of removing dont unless you really need to my 14 r old daughter had a smaller mark and as she got older it just dissaperd over time

hkz · 14/01/2009 19:35

my DD is 21 months now, when she was 4 weeks she got a tiny mark on her lip which grew until she was about six moths. It was bumpy and raised and looked sore, but never seemed to bother her.

Our GP referred us to the local hospital and we were then referred to Gt Ormand St. He identified it as a hemangioma and said that they normally fade ande ventually disappear by about 6 or 7 years of age.

He wants to check it every few years and said he would consider laser surgery if it wasn't fading or was causing discomfort.
It started to fade when she was around one, it is now far less prominent and has changed colour to a pale pink/pearl. Her pic is on my profile if you want to see, its not too noticable.

My main reservations about laser surgery were that she would need a number of treatments and genral anesthetics. The Drs I saw never talked about freezing, but I guess it must depent where the birthmark is.

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