Help on thoughts on birthmark

[mob]

Gday, yes our baby’s birthmark was present at birth, however just a small red dot, It didn't really get bigger than that until about 6 weeks after birth, it is now circular and raised and has probably grown 5 fold, we have been told not to worry about it, however as concerned parents we are following up with sound and proper advice.

Firstly, visiting our GP who gave us a referral to the Royals children hospital here in Melbourne. They advised us not to worry about it and that over time this Hemangioma would disappear.

We have now just made an appointment to visit
a doctor who practices at laserdermatology here in Melbourne
this appointment is scheduled for this Thursday, will keep you posted on
outcome.

[nickbar]

Good luck and I look forward to hearing your update.

Corinne

[mob]

Gday again, lst Thursday we had our initial consultaion and the doctor was really nice, his opion after seeing our baby was to progress to the next step and see a plastic and reconstructive surgeon.

WOW, this hit us hard, we have been on a rollercoaster ride now for almost 1 year, initially being told not to worry about it and now being told to seek another opinion, his initial comment was that he would get the H removed, however to us (parents) this is so dramatic, especially after being told not to worry about it.

We have agreed that we at least would make this appointment to see what this other specialsts thinks, at worst we arm ourselfs with information before making a further decision.

[missy]

Please do continue to keep us updated! Let us know when the appointment is.

Anything we can help with, do let us know. We have:
http://www.birthmark.org/parents_publications.php
and
http://www.birthmark.org/checklist.php

if you need help getting your thoughts together before you go see the doctor.

Missy

[mob]

Gday, we have now seen a plastic and reconstructive surgeon who is happy to assist with the removal of this birthmark, he tends to think its a simple operation, however we as parents are terrified of the fact that we have to put our son through this at such a young age so we haven't yet made up our minds on WHEN!

The doctor was terrific Mr. Anthony J Penington who informed us on what would be involved, however its still scary to think that our son has to go under to get this treated. We were wondering if anyone else had delt with or heard of Mr. Anthony J Penington ?

For the record our son is now almost 12 months old and will post updated pictures soon of his H.

[diamondtree]

Use the ask an expert facility.I am also from Australia (Sydney)
and finally secured an apt for my child with a pead dermo who apparently specialises in birthmarks. Hers is a deep hemngioma (refer to my other posts) At the very least I will now have 2 opinions to compare as there doens't seem to be a lot of experts in this field in Australia. I got a response from Dr Waner very quickly too.
good luck.

[aussiechick]

Hi, I am also from Australia. Our daughter had a h on the bridge of her nose. We were told by pead's and derms that it would go away, but even the pead said that she may require surgery before she went to school because of deep component would probably leave fatty tissue behind. I sent some photo's to Dr Reinisch in LA and he advised the same thing, re the fatty tissue and suggested having the surgery earlier than 5. We travelled to the US and had the surgery done when she was 4.5 months old. It was great, the best decision we ever made.. It really was a 'procedure', surgery sounds too harsh. She was just an outpatient and surgery was about 1hr, and recovery about 1hr, she wasn't even in pain when she woke up, we just gave her some panadol just in case, and she was perfect, never even touched the site...
I am impressed you found someone in Australia who will do the surgery.. Of course it is completely up to you and your family to make the decision, wishing you all the best.

[mob]

Gday, just wanted to post to let ya all know that we now have had time to think about our next steps. We have decided to proceed with the removal procedure / surgery which is now booked in for late August 2008.

The issue we had was to prove to us that we were not doing this for us that we infact were doing this for our son and his best interests, and after consultation with family and friends we opted to proceed.

The procedure we are told will be carried out in 1 day, with him being released on the same day. GOD willing all will be fine.

[missy]

Please keep us in the loop! Doesn't it feel great to have made the decision? That's a huge step out of the way!

Missy

[mob]

Attached are some pictures taken recently as promised.
Its 1 yr now and surgery is booked in for 20th Aug 2008.