pulsed dye laser vs. steroid injection on ulcerated lip H

[NadMom]

Our 8 week old has an ulcerated H on her lower lip. It has interfered with feeding, so we are currently using a special needs feeder. We have been administering wound care, so it is slowly improving. We have seen a plastic surgeon who originally wanted to just observe. He finally got us started with the wound care and wants to see how it looks Friday and at that time may suggest steroid injections. We also sought a second opinion from a derm who highly recommended pulsed dye laser treatments. We are.leaning towards the laser as we are concerned about the side effects of steroids. We believe her H is still in the proliferative stage, although we have not seen a big change in size in the last two weeks or so. Any advice or experiences would be welcomed and appreciated.

[missy]

Hi and welcome!

Other parents will post soon. If you'd like to get a second opinion, let us know where you are and we'll see if we can get you hooked up with a specialist.

We have a Wound Care Expert, Dr. Serena. You can get in touch with him through

http://birthmark.org/experts.php

Also, there are physicians there that you can ask about treatments for lip hemangiomas. Perhaps Dr. Levitin could help you decide between steroids and laser.

Missy

[Jenni]

Hi, Sounds like we are in the exact same situation. My daughter is 8 weeks with an ulcerated lower lip H. I just took her to the doctor yesterday. The ulceration is on the outer lip border. There has been no bleeding, but it looks like a hole. The doctor told me to use polysporin on the area and swabbed it to check for infection. She told me if it does not go away within the next 7-10 days that she will prescribe a stronger medicated ointment. I have only put on two applications, but the ulcerated area appears to look slightly better. The doctor also mentioned steriod injections if it gets worse. Hope that helps.

I was curious if your doctor has talked to you about using Timolol (topical propanolol)? My daughter has been on it since she was three weeks old. Our doctor told us that the topical medicine has the best results for lip and eye lid hemangiomas because the skin is thinner in those areas. I feel comfortable with the medicine because it is topical and does not have any known adverse side effects. The medicine obviously didn't stop the ulceration, but it has stunted the growth of her H. Please keep us updated!

Jenni

[tessaemay1981]

Have you considered trying propranolol? It would stop the growth and help heal the ulceration. My son had a bad ulceration on his back. That was when the doctor finally decided that propranolol would help the ulceration as well as stop the rest of his hemangiomas from growing. It worked like a charm. He's been on propranolol for 3 months and they are shrinking and fading at a rapid rate.