Capillary Hemangiomas

From what I know of capillary hemangiomas is they are benign. They usually grow for about 10 or so months and then start to slowly shrink. I think the only concern with them is if they grow so big they obstruct her breathing but you would be able to notice this. It is scary but it should be nothing to worry about. I haven't looked but Webmd usually has great articles on everything...you might want to check them out and see if they have an article on it.
If you are ever too concerned and the doctor isn't being supportive get a second opinion.
I am just giving my support. Take care!

My daughter has a cavernous hemangioma on her back. It grew rapidly up until about a year and then shrunk to 1/2 it's size by the time she was 13 months. Now for the past 6 months it has stayed about the same. Her hemangioma was rather large but being on her back there was really no need to treat it and should be gone by puberty.

Being around her eye you might have to treat it if it interferes with her eyesight. We go see a doctor at Children's Mercy that I would totally recommend especially being so close to her eye. Her name is Dr. Amy Knopper (not sure if I spelled the last name right). She is a pediatric dermatologist. Just for peace of mind we went to her. She measured it and took pictures of it. She monitored its growth and the condition of the skin.

If you have anymore questions just contact me. My sister is a pediatrician and she promised us that it would go away but Izzy's got so big we just felt better hearing from a specialist. (It was the grandparents that freaked out about it more than we did)

My oldest son had one on his right shoulder at birth. The Doc. said it would get a little bigger but not much, and it should go away by the time he was 5. Well he is 6 now and it has been gone for over a year now. The Doc had said, if by the age of 5 it wasn't gone, they could remove it if it caused a problem. I would tell you what your doctor tells you. Keep an eye on it. If it gets much bigger and is problematic they can be removed. They aren't life threatening, but they can be a nusance, especially if it gets bigger and when it is on the child's face. Treat her the same while she has it as if you would when it's gone. She doesn't know it's there and she doesn't worry about it. It's your baby and she is beautiful. Believe me there are a lot worse things than a red bump on the face.

If you are still concerend about what it may look like message me and I can send you a picture of my son's hemangioma then and now.

I have a daughter that was born 16 years ago with what doctor thought was a Hemagioma. And I say thought because it was not what it turned out to be. It took me almost 4 yrs to find the right doctor to diagnois her. Her "strawberry patch" turned out to be a vascual malformation. I found a great plastic surgeon at Childrens Memorial Hospital in Chicago. If you would like more information please feel free to contact me. And good luck!

K.,

My baby brother had the same thing. It started out as a tiny little dot and eventually grew until it covered his entire eye. One doctor offered a solution to my mother that included operating on him (which also included removing his eye for the procedure and replacing it). My mother didn't like that option so she went to another doctor that wasn't very concerned about it and told her that eventually he would grow and his body would absorb the additional vessels and that he'd be just fine.

My mother decided to wait it out. By about the age of 3 or 4 the entire thing was nearly gone (you did notice it a bit when he was tired of not feeling well) and by the time he started kindergarten you couldn't tell anything had ever been wrong. His eyesight is just now starting to require the use of glasses, but he's also over 30 now.

If you'd like I'd be more than happy to share some photos with you, just contact me via private message. It does get to where it looks really bad and you do get a few strange looks from people but within a very short time you won't even remember it was there except for photos. I will say also that having had that as a baby never seemed to have affected my brother in any way at all, his eye sight and self-esteem are perfectly in-tact.

J. J

My daughter who is almost one also has a hemangioma on her left cheek. We noticed a black and blue mark while shw was still in the hospital and her doctor referred me to a children's dermatogist. She instucted us to put different creams/medicine treatments (some prescribed, some not)over a period of months. I took her back after her nine month checkup and she has cleared us from every having to return to her. The mark never got any bigger and unless you really look for it, it has become less noticeable over time. The doctor said that every mark behaves differntly, but after a year they usually start to disappear. Hope everthing turns out well for you too.

My God-daughter had several when she was born. She had one that started out the size of a nickel on her head. It did get larger and red. It was completely gone (along with the others) by her 2nd birthday with no scaring. The doctor told them that they usually disappear by the age of 5 and that the only way they scare is if they are ruptured. Don't worry. Your daughter will be beautiful her whole life...without scaring.

Check out this article on WebMD http://www.webmd.com/content/article/117/112647.htm

It may help. I do know from my own experience that most strawberry hemangiomas (if it does turn red) do usually disappear or at least fade very significantly by about age 9. At this point I would not worry at all. In fact the more you call attention to it, the more self conscious she will become about it.

My two year old son was diagnosed with two hemangiomas on both of his eyes, on the bottom of his eyelids, when he was two months old. We had thought he had hit himself with a toy and given himself a black eye. They litterally just popped up over night. When we took him in for his two month his pediatrician explained to us what they were and showed me some pictures that absolutley terrified me!!! We were sent to a Dermatology specialist and an Opthamologist at a Childrens Hospital here in KC. They checked his eyes to make sure it was not affecting his sight because of the location. We went back every 3 months for the first year and then now it's been every six months. The doctors were so wonderful in explaining what it was and what to expect. We were very lucky as my son's did not grow very much so they did not affect his vision and we didn't have to go down the steriod route. After the first visit with the doctors I felt much better and was very relieved it wasn't something serious, especially after seeing other children there. Our doctors told us that they typically grow for a year to year and a half and then at that point they normally stop growing. They say it can take several years for them to go away though. My son's have become less noticable as he has grown and they have also faded. Some grow very big and some do not. They can be treated if they grow large with steriods but that is a discussion you need to have with your doctor. My biggest concern was his vision, but as long as you are seeing a good doctor and they keep an eye on it, measuring, monitoring its growth, they can help determine whether or not that path is needed. I relied a lot on the advice of my doctors and some information I found on the web. Just don't get freaked out by some of the pictures, these are extreme cases and it doesn't meen that is what will happen.

I spent a lot of time explaining what they were because it looked like he had two black eyes, but I learned to get used to it, because it didn't affect my little boy. I wish you the best of luck and I hope you find a good doctor to help you through this.

Good luck