Strawberry haemangioma

[pinkone]

My daughter has a strawberry haemangioma on the bridge of her nose. I have been told by my GP and dermatologist that there is nothing that can be done, we just have to watch and wait as it should go by the time she is seven. They are not prepared to laser it as it is not damaging her health in any way. I am not really happy with this.
Has anyone else had any experience of this?

ds1 had one under his arm and my step son had one in the middle of his forehead. ds1's was only visible when he went swimming so not a problem. by the time ss was 4 (when I met dh) his was much smaller as he had grown (saw photos it used to be big) it looked more like he'd bumped his head, people used to ask how he'd hit his head rather than shock horror what's that. I can't remember when it 'disappeared', probaby by 7, he's now 15 and there's no mark at all.

I asked about having ds's removed as I kept catching it getting him dressed and was worried, they told me they only remove them if they bleed and they are hesitant about intervening as if/when they bleed - they seriously bleed and it's not good.

Not sure if this helps. Sometimes it's more upsetting for us (I know it was for me) and the face is different to under the arm, but ss was not bullied over his, more people were inquisitive.

hth

DD has a small one on her tummy, i noticed it when she was 2 days old, it never got very big or raised, and now she is 2.3 and it has virtually disappeared. i was also told they go by the age of 7, but it has disappeared long before then.

DS had one near his clavicle. It had faded to a shadow by the time he was 3 years old. If it still persists, you can seek laser treatment.

how old is dd? They do often just disappear.

Ds2 has a one on his arm. I expect it'll go as he gets older and since it's his arm it doesn't bother me that much though everyone comments on it.
I had one on my back which had faded to the outline only by the time I hit my twenties and has disappeared completely now (am mid-thirties). My mum was mortified by it, but they wouldn't "treat" it back then.

DD was born with an haemangioma on her back which cleared up by the time she was 3 months old.

Yes - I had a strawberry haemangioma on my top lip. My (lovely) Mum had it operated on when I was 7, even though it had shrunk considerably by that stage.

It has left a scar which is not much better than the birthmark itself. I've since read that some haemangiomas can take a bit longer to shrink away entirely, and wish she'd just left it alone until I was approx 11 or so.

ds was born with a huge one on his forearm (basically the whole of his lower arm) it was very vascular and bulbous to the point where we had to cut the sleeves of his clothes because they were to tight. He was monitored quite closely by his consultant for the first six months because it was increasing in size and then all of a sudden it started to shrink.... it still at 2.5yrs old covers the same large area but has lost all of its bulk and is slowly fading. because of its size we were refered to a plastic surgeon who had loads of info on them and also we were given the tel no of the dermatology nurse specialist at great ormond street she was really helpful and said if we were particularily concerned we could go and see a specialist there..... we have not because it is no longer a problem but the info she gave on sun protection etc was quite good. because of where it is ds will be able to hide it quite easily if he ever gets to aware of it (and he has recently this summer when in short sleeves become aware of it because people always comment that it looks like a bruise ) but other than usually making sure we have a sterile dressing with us incase he cuts it and warning child carers of its potential to bleed quite alot if cut i honestly dont even think about it now.

Dd had one on her forehead and now at 6 years old it is just a tiny mark which only I can see - needs to be pointed out to others. Its funny looking back on old photos I didn't realise it was as big as it was, suppose I just got used to it.

Just be grateful it isn't affecting her health. DD had one on her eyelid, it grew very large and has permanently damaged her eyesight, to the extent that she is almost blind in that eye. When she was about 2 it started to shrink and she's now 4 and it is barely noticeable, although she may need cosmetic surgery to tuck in any flaps of skin when she's older.

dd (10 yrs) still has the remnants of one on her back - it has faded to normal skin tone but is still raised. However, two friends had ones of their faces - one on his cheek and the other on her forehead - both of which completely disappeared.

DD (2.1) had one appear on her stomach within a week of her birth. It is pretty big and very thick. I'm glad she doesn't have one on a place that would be more annoying for her. (I can only imagine what would have happened if it had been on her eyelid, since it is bigger that her eye) The past few months it has faded a LOT and is mostly just an outline (still very noticeable, just not as raised and red) with only the thickest areas still having depth to them and being bright red.

My dd had one on her belly when she was born. It disappered quickly. However, my neice had one on her nose and it grew for quite a long time and was very noticeable, although she was always beautiful. If felt that it had disappeared by the time that she was 7 but apparently she was bullied a lot about it. She had two lots of plastic surgery when she was alot older, probably 15 or 16 and I really cannot see anything there at all, altough my sister says that she is still conscience of it to this day.

Thanks for your replies. DD is only 6 weeks old. The reason I am worried is because I have seen pictures of them and the size that they can grow to. It is only because it is on her face that I have been so upset about it. It is also v close to her eye.

It is quite reassuring to hear your stories of the ages that they fade.

I have heard that great ormond st. will laser them before they start school if they still look bad. (haven't had it confirmed though). I really am not happy with her starting school with it due to bullying, etc. I know that is a long way off yet though and hopefully it will fade by then.

Daisywhoooo - you are right. I am glad that it is not in a worse place and she could have been born with a lot worse and I am grateful for that.

My ds had one on his top lip. It faded completely by the time he was 6 months old - but it had been fading since about 6 weeks, and I had to have it pointed out to me that it had gone!

My dd has one in the centre of her forhead, she's 5 now. It has changed substanitally but is still visible. I was told 9 rather than 7.. at that point they will laser or cut out any excess skin to tidy up.

Isn't it odd that we are all told different ages.. typical inconsistant NHS?

My DD had one on the top of her head - we were told if it had not gone by the time she is 5 they would remove it. When she was a baby a health visitor (one we hadn't met) said... "oh you've bashed her head!"

She will be 5 at xmas and it has totally gone... however no hair grows where it was.. she has a blad spot which is not noticable now as we have a side parting... .
If fashion dictates a middle parting in yrs to come she will miss out

If you're concerned about her eyesight then you really need to see a paedeatric opthamologist at the hospital who can assess that it isn't impacting her vision.

DD did have treatment for hers, but they didn't laser it and used steroid injections instead. They faffed around for over a year before doing this though and I'm sure if they'd done it sooner her eyesight wouldn't be so bad (not that you can tell by seeing her run around and she still refuses to wear her glasses ) She started school this year and we've never had the slightest hint of bullying because of it - it's amazing how much better they get with time.

My DS is 6 months old and has a strawberry mark on his forehead about the size of his eye. I have a great GP who was very reassuring about it and gave me a useful NHS fact sheet about different types of marks babies have on their skin. This is what the fact sheet and my Dr said: The marks can grow for up to 6 months, some can grow very large, they tend to fade slowly and 50% will have completely disappeared by the time the child is 5 and the rest by age 10. Advice is not to laser unless the mark is so near to the eye, bottom or anywhere that it is affecting the child's bodily functions. Hope this helps.