Info on Hemangioma's

I never really had issues with my son's. Every now and then someone would point it out when he was a baby, but I didn't care, and he certainly didn't (he was a baby). As he got older, his hair just grew over it, and no one could see it by the time he was 2. Now he's 3, and I don't think he has more than a speck of it left, but you can't see it through his hair, anyway. I have to search to find it.

My nephew had a large one when he was an infant. It really did go away when he was only a few years old, and it was never anything that caused a big stir. He didnt even notice it, or what anyone thought of it, and I cannot imagine that your daughter will either before the age of 3. Good luck!

My granddaughter had a one on her forehead. I didn't believe it when they said it would go away, but she is 14 now, and it has been gone for years.

My sister had 3 of these... one on her face, one on her chest, one on her bottom. We called them strawberries. They all went away and it was no big deal. Children that young are not traumatized by people staring at them. C., really really rethink the surgury. Just 2 weeks ago, my friend's 6 month old baby boy died from complications with a very minor surgery. Tragic.

Seriously, who cares if people stare. Just tell them it's a beauty mark... a strawberry... an angel kiss...something... but don't worry... I've never heard of a situation where a hemangioma was harmful or didn't eventually go away.
In fact, surgery may cause scarring on her face that will be permanent.

hi C.
my little girl had two when she was born, she was 3 months early. one was on her temple and one was on her neck. she was about a year and a half and they started to dissapear. if you decide to do surgery make sure you have her tested for sleep apnea because that can cause problems with the anesthesia.

i also am a sahm with four kids, my 6 yo daughter, 3year old twin boys and an eight month old boy. i feel you.

My 9 month old daughter has four of them. One on her hip has already almost completely gone away. She has a "compound" hemangioma on her cheek. That just means that it grew beneath her skin as well as above it. We have used laser treatments only on the one on her cheek. We first used a type of perscription cream which didn't help her. Strangely enough, she got RSV back in Dec. and the steroid nebulizer treatments she had actually shrank the one on her face a bit. Steroids are another course of treatment. I recommend her Dermatologist highly. She is has amazing credentials. Her name is Dr. McBurny and her office is in Slidell Memorial. She takes about 2 months to get an appointment, and she doesn't take insurance, but a consultation couldn't hurt. We only treated her because of the rapid growth that she was experiencing. If it were purely aesthetic, I would have just let it go away on it's own--which they ALMOST ALWAYS do. Hope that helps.

My oldest daughter had/has one on the side of chin area and extending down her neck. She also had it on her bottom lip. When she was 3 months old it suddenly swelled and made the whole side of face look very swollen. We did the CT scan to make sure if it was interfering with the nerves in her face. Since it wasn't, we elected not to pursue surgery at that point. She is now seven and the spots have diminished to looking more like a light rash than a birthmark. The swelling she had took a little over 4 months to go away.
We did get lots of comments from people- not all were bad. Some were from others whose kids had gone through the same thing. Others were much less PC. We heard everything from her being burned, to asking if she had spilled jello on her, or marked herself with markers.

She took it all in stride, which helped me out tremendously. By the time she could talk good she would straight up tell people, NO, it's my birthmark. By age 3 the brightness had really gotten less, and now noone even notices. Our doctor had told us that it would more than likely dissapear by 1st grade, and it pretty much has. I also never heard any of her friends or classmates pick on her for it. That was a huge relief. I also understand that there are situations that require the surgery to take place. Best of luck with whatever you decide to go through with. Overall I would say the comments were few and far between over the years, and I never really caught anyone staring. Good Luck!

C., hey this is A.! You should really talk to Kathryn. Her little boy Cadon had one on the side of his head and they had it removed. She would be a great one to talk to about it and could give you some really great advice and what to expect.

Hi C.,

I have a girlfriend whose daughter had one on the side of her head. She took her to a doctor in Hammond, Louisiana who used laser treatments to remove it. It took a while but now it just looks like a birthmark by her ear. The little girl will soon be 5 and she did very well with it. Her mother would put hats on her alot when it was large to cut down the staring plus this little girl is blonde and had no hair for quite a while so it saved her scalp as well from the hot Louisiana sun. If you like I can find out the name of the doctor for you. I think before you put your baby under the knife maybe consider other forms of removal. Laser treatments worked well for my friends daughter.

Hey C.,
My daughter (who is 4 now) had a very large one on her leg. The dr told us it would go away by the time she was 4 or 5 and it actually was gone by the time she was 2. If you look really closely the skin is just a tiny bit darker there but if you didn't know about it you would never notice it. I do understand how you feel, I had a lot of people question me about it during the summers when she would be in shorts. It did kind of bother me and I did question her dr about having it removed. He told me that he doesn't recommend that unless it is on the face obstructing vision or unless the child is really bothered by it because occasionally a child will bleed excessively during removal. If you do decide to go through it I don't blame you at all, I honestly think I would have considered it if my daughters would have been on her face. However, my son went to preschool with a little girl who had a very large one on her face. By the time they hit first grade hers was completely gone. I never noticed any of the kids picking on her for it. Good luck, I hope it all goes well regardless of what you decide to do.

My son had a small one on his stomach and it completely disappeared by the time he was five...completely. I think you should wait it out and let it go away on its own. Surgery on them is like trying to make an incision on a blood-filled sponge and will leave a scar. She will just fine with the questions and curiosity if you model absolute confidence and even willingness to educate others...then she will have life skills that will serve her well the rest of her life...and no scars!

I have seen specials on the Discovery Health Channel about hemangiomas. The doctor highlighted and touted as the one to see was from Arkansas Children's hospital! The children they showed did very well through the surgery. You are on the right track. Best of luck.

My little girl had one on the side of her haed right above her right temple. It was the size of a quarter and a half all the way around and it was so dark purple that it looked like all her blood just sat right under her skin. They told me 4 to 5 years it would be gone, she is going to be 2 in July and you can barely see it. Their was a lot of questions of curse from people but acctually not a lot of staring (not noticably anyway). I am not sure about the surgery but if it is not causing problems, why put the baby thru a surgery? You are the mother and you wants whats best for your child at all times, but why risk something going wrong? That was my BIGGEST fear, I guess that'[s why I didn't do it. Good luck in any dision that you make and I H. everything goes good.