Steroid injections vs Propanolol for facial H?

[jilliang]

My daughter is 8.5 weeks and has a compound H between her eyes which is still relatively small. To date she has received 2 pulsed dye laser treatments and 1 cortisone injection. The superficial portion is almost completely gone and the deep portion has shown about a 50% reduction in size since the last treatment. We got a second opinion today from a pediatric derm in another city and he is recommending propanolol instead of her current treatments. I'm not sure which way to go - any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

[missy]

Lots of things to consider. Will your insurance cover the propanolol? What is the prognosis of the current treatment, since it seems to be working? How will she be monitored during treatment, since it would be in another town? What is the time frame for each treatment?

Other parents will give their opinions soon.

Missy

[stephaniedkeel]

My daughter is 4.5 weeks old and has a small compound H on her right cheek. We were very lucky to have such a wonderful pediatrician who referred us right away to a dermatologist. We had our first visit yesterday and she suggested the pulsed dye laser treatment for the superficial portion and an injection of steroids into the deep portion. She believes that we have caught it very early and has great hope for the treatment course we have chosen. Did you keep with same treatment or did you go with the propanolol?

[carley09]

My daughter has 2, a superficial above her lip and compound on her chest! She was exclusively on propranalol from 8 weeks to 1 yr! I can tell you from experience that shortly after we started propranalol the compound (deep component) on her chest went away very quickly! Although neither grew any bigger, the propranalol did not reduce the redness! We have since done laser treatments which have done a great job! So I think your laser treatments coupled with propranalol is a great approach! Propranalol was covered under insurance, think we paid $3! More importantly we did not experience any side effects from propranalol - steroids have many!!

Hope this helps!

[Anniina]

Our daughter is on Propranolol for her nasal tip hemangioma and it has helped hugely. She hasn't had any side effects and our original huge worries about her birthmark have now just turned into having to give her the medication with a syringe three times a day (usually quite easy between sips of milk).

I don't have experience of steroid treatment but have heard side effects can be pretty severe. It does sound though like the current treatment your child is having is working, but if I were you I'd still seriously consider moving over to Propranolol.