Haemangiomas

[Julesy]

My son was born with a large Haemangioma (strawberry birthmark) on his neck and three smaller ones elsewhere on his body. At first I was horrified and frightened as I watched it grow and grow each day. I had a wonderful specialist called Dr Harper from Gt Ormond St who after checking all his internal organs to make sure there were none we couldn't see, assured me that after 6 months they would start to shrink. There is quite a social stigma to facial markings and everyone would always comment on them. However, Dr Harper was right, he is nearly two and they are fading so fast as he grows into such a handsome little boy and I don't even notice them anymore... they are just part of him!
So to all mothers who find their newborns to have similar birthmarks, be patient, see a specialist and they will eventually fade and go.

Yes I have a friend whose litte boy's birthmark was very prominent on his forehead when he was born. He is now 4 and you don't notice it.

My 15 mo son has a medium sized strawberry mark on his calf and I was concerned about it when he was born, as it would get bigger but i was told it would fade in time. It hasn't yet, but I now feel it is part of what makes him unique and don't worry about it at all.

My daughter, now 2.5years (can't work out how to print a half yet!), had a large strawberry mark in her hairline. It began to grow from a tiny speck at about 2 weeks of age. It grew to about the size of a 5p piece and looked like, well, a strawberry. It has now reduced dramatically in size, is no longer raised and my doctor assures me it will disappear in the next 12 months. I know many people who describe the same process.

A strawberry mark appeared on my first daughters calf when she was a few weeks old. As someone else has described it grew almost before my eyes and became brighter in colour and raised. I found it quite alarming but it stopped growing when it was about the size of a ten pence piece and I was given all the usual assurances. Sure enough she is nearly two and it is already starting to fade. It seems to be dispersing and I think it will gradually disappear.

My daughter was born with a birthmark on her right eye and on the back of her head which spread onto her neck. These both have faded considerably now she is 18 months old. I was worried when she was born that the one on her right eye would be very prominent, but it has faded so much now you can hardly see it.

My son's mark was on his eyebrow, the size and shape and colour of a black cherry. He called it his 'bump'. He would say, stroking each of his eyebrows - 'that's my bump and this one's my smooth'...cute, eh? It didn't fade entirely until he was about 7. It stopped bothering me, even when people said 'oh, what's the matter with his eye?'. I just explained what it was - no big deal. People don't mean anything - tbey're just concerned and a bit nosy!

Was encouraged to read all this. My son has a small-ish (couple of inches) haemangioma on his tummy and one on his back, something I thought would have bothered me, but it really doesn't even before I learnt that it will probably fade. Perhaps (and I hate myself for this)I feel it doesn't matter so much because he's a boy. My goddaughter was born with a large haemangioma covering her neck left arm and half her chest. It was heartbreaking when she was a tiny baby as it grew to be about half the size of her actual body and all the lovely clothes people bought her as birth presents wouldn?t fit. It grew so large that she needed numerous operations to try and ease the strain it was putting on her heart. The doctors didn?t seem to know what would happen to it, but eventually, following another major illness it started to shrink and she was left with lots of loose skin. Several laser treatments and operations later (one including 104 stitches) she looks totally ?normal? and aged five wore a short sleeved dress as my bridesmaid ? which brought tears to all our eyes. I was amazed by the number of specialists her family encountered who worked in this field - all very knowledgeable and helpful - so it's worth tracking them down if this is a problem that affects you.

I had one as a baby, but aged about 18mths it was surgically removed. Looking back, it's a shame they weren't so sure about them disappearing on their own. As a result I now have a scar on my back which is about 3 inches by 1 inch, my mum was told that once I started wearing a bra that I would likely require plastic surgery. Luckily this didn't happen and I've managed to find bras that don't touch/irritate the scar.

I've learned to live with it (as you do),but occasionally the scar does itch.

Sylvev, to do ½, hold down the Alt key and press 171.

My daughter has a strawberry mark right in the middle of her forehead, looks very much like a lightening flash, thus i comment that she's just been in a fight with Voldemort!

on a more serious note, i was concerned initially but it's quite cute and goes redder when she's crying and cross! and on calmer days you van hardly see it!

My daughter is 9 also has a strawberry naevus (same think I think) on her back, just to the right of her spine. It is about the size of a 10 pence piece. When she was younger, first they said it would fade by the time she was 1 year (it didn't), then by the time she was 3 (it didn't) and then 5. We never really took much notice of it, but on holiday a few times people/children commented on what was wrong with her back. Last year she was referred to a specialist who started laser treatment. She had two sessions and then it was left up to her to decide if she wants further treatments in the future. At the moment she is happy with the way it is, but that may change in the future. The laser (she told me) felt like being stung with an elastic band - not really painful, just uncomfortable. The doctor, who was lovely, gave us some local anaesthetic cream to apply 1 hour before treatment to take some of the pain away.

It was funny after my son was born 4 years after his sister. We were so used to feeling a bump on her back when we winded her, it felt funny to wind him and not find a bump. My second and third children both don't seem to have these marks, although my baby is only 3 months old. I find that, because the eldest has one of these marks, my children are very considerate to other children and do not stare if we encounter a child with a mark on their face, etc. as they understand what they are.

Has anyone else had experiences of strawberry marks bleeding. My son is nearly one and has a strawberry nevus on his cheek - close to his nose and about half an inch below the eye. This appeared at about 8-9 months and has grown steadily since then. However on Mon 15 Jan when I was washing his face and he was fighting against (just the usual little boy stuff) it it burst and bled heavily. It has since bled upwards of 40 times sometimes just a little but at least a dozen times like a nose bleed in quantity. Today I was called to his nursery and also they called an ambulance because it started to bleed while he was asleep, was gushing out and wouldn't stop for over an hour. I went with him to Casualty in the ambulance but it had stopped by the time we got there and so they didn't do anything - ie didn't even bother to clean him up or apply a dressing. Hence it started bleeding again when he woke up and rubbed his eyes as we got out of the taxi home.

Although the bleeding doesn't hurt it is having a serious impact on his day to day existence. I feel so mean that I have to tell him off/ stop him every time he rubs his eyes because he is tired. He has been referred to a plastic surgeon but I feel bad about that too because they should eventually go in time but removal could leave a scar....

When my daughter was a baby she had a HUGE haemangioma around one of her eyes and it affected her vision. She is three now and only has a very small lump, the same colour as the rest of her skin, near her eye brow. Her vision is fine. I feel confident that the lump will disappear in time. Like Julesy's son, she has been a patient of Dr John Harper at Great Ormond Street and we have also had a very good experience there. Another good resource is the Birthmark Support Group www.birthmarksupportgroup.org.uk/

Rmum, did they ever consider removing your daughter's haemangioma if it was causing problems with her vision? I'm so worried about my son now that I am setting the alarm clock to go off in the middle of the night to go check he is not bleeding so its looking like it will have to go.

Yes, they did consider laser surgery, but in the end they decided against it. My daughter's haemangioma is not only in her skin, but also inside the eye socket and behind her eyeball. The surgery would only have reduced the surface part of it, but would not have done much for her vision.

Bozza - sounds like you are having a rough time of it. I hope you and your son get some resolution to this before too long.

Rmum - Thanks for the support. You're not going to believe this but it turns out it wasn't a strawberry nevus at all but a haemoragic lesion. It was caused by a tiny scratch on his face in November (I can remember - he caught himself with his nail while asleep). That explains why it didn't emerge until 9 months. Anyway, tomorrow, two days before his first birthday he is being operated on to have it removed. Although I am concerned about his operation and the scar (it is a knife job not a laser) I am so relieved to finally have some answers.

I would be very grateful to hear from anyone whose baby had/has a strawberry nevus near the eye, whether it was treated or left and how long it took to go and how big it got. My 6 week old son has what the GP thinks is a strawberry nevus next to his eye. it's a red raised dot about 2 millimetres across on the inside corner of his eye, surrounded by puffiness which makes this eye look slightly obscured and puffy. It's just about noticeable at the moment and looks like a bit of a lazy eye until you get up close and see the red mark. I'm very worried about how big it's going to get and whether his vision will be affected and am currently waiting to see an eye specialist.

JLS I'm sorry I can't help because as you can see from my post below my son's turned out to be something different. But I do remember our feelings of concern when we thought it was a nevus although it was actually on his cheek between his eye and his nose. Any health issue is worrying when they are so little.

How long do you have to wait to see the specialist? Generally I find waiting to see the specialist is the hard bit. When we had the problem with DS we saw the specialist on Wedsnesday and he had the op on Monday. Sorry I'm waffling but just finally to say that DS has got a small scar that you can only see if you look for it. In fact people who didn't know him them generally haven't noticed it.

My dd has a strawberry mark near her eye. It was much bigger than your ds?s, probably about 2 cm across at the age of six weeks. It grew to about 4 cm by the time she was about 5 or 6 months old. She is 4 now and it?s much smaller, but still has not disappeared entirely. Initially, she was put on a course of cortisone for a couple of months to stop the birthmark growing. The main treatment for her vision is wearing an eye patch every day to prevent the birthmark eye from becoming ?lazy?. Patching is increadibly tedious and of course dd hates it, but it works!

Have they said anything about how long you have to wait to see the eye doctor? Birthmarks can grow very quickly in the early weeks. You might want to consider asking for a referral to a specialist birthmark unit. There is a list on the Birthmark Support Group web site. My dd was referred to Great Ormond Street (to both dermatology and ophthalmology) when she was six weeks old and they saw her within three days. Not only that, the dermatologist said it was a shame she had not seen her sooner, because they could have done more to stop it growing.

My dd has a strawberry mark near her eye. It was much bigger than your ds?s, probably about 2 cm across at the age of six weeks. It grew to about 4 cm by the time she was about 5 or 6 months old. She is 4 now and it?s much smaller, but still has not disappeared entirely. Initially, she was put on a course of cortisone for a couple of months to stop the birthmark growing. The main treatment for her vision is wearing an eye patch every day to prevent the birthmark eye from becoming ?lazy?. Patching is increadibly tedious and of course dd hates it, but it works!

Have they said anything about how long you have to wait to see the eye doctor? Birthmarks can grow very quickly in the early weeks. You might want to consider asking for a referral to a specialist birthmark unit. There is a list on the Birthmark Support Group web site. My dd was referred to Great Ormond Street (to both dermatology and ophthalmology) when she was six weeks old and they saw her within three days. Not only that, the dermatologist said it was a shame she had not seen her sooner, because they could have done more to stop it growing.

My DD2, 19 months has a strawberry birth mark on her chin. It grew from a tiny tiny spot to the size of a 5p coin. Its very raised and red, she has had infections in it and made it bleed heavily by scrating her ezeamca and catching it. The doctors said that if she kept catching it and get infections then they would 'think' about removing it but they don't like to do that.
It still is there and is showing no sign of disappearing yet.

dd2 had one on her head which only grew to the size of a ladybird. It disappeared between 2 and 3 years old by itself.

JLS - I had a friend in primary school who had a very large strawberry mark right next to her eye. She was never bothered by it, so of course none of us were, even though newcomers always asked about it. I hadn't seen her for over 20 years when we met at the funeral of another schoolfriend's dad. The mark was completely gone and I asked when she had had the surgery. But it turns out that she hadn't had surgery at all, the mark had just faded naturally. Apparently it was already shrinking (though not fading) when we were kids, and by the time she was 16 it was completely gone. All that is left today is a patch of barely noticeable slightly softer freckled skin.

I think they are supposed to do that generally milch. I learned about them when DS was incorrectly diagnosed as having a strawberry nevus. I know a few kids with them on the back where they cause no problem but if they start interfering with the vision thats when its a problem. Have you heard from the specialist JLS? Sparks post sounded very helpful.

My little girl is just 8 months old and approximately 6 - 8 weeks ago, a small red (what we thought was a blood blister) appeared on her forehead. The health visitor told us that this is a birth mark (Strawberry Mark). Over the past week it has started to bleed and although we have applied pressure it takes a long time to stop and then we have put a plaster on. When we replace the plaster it starts to bleed again. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced such a birth mark appearing so late on (she was 6 months at least) and also with them bleeding (and any advice anyone can give). Many thanks