photos of older children from wait and see

[concernedmama]

Hello
I am looking for photos of older children with compound hemagiomas located on the face. I'm trying to get an idea of how they look at age 3,4 or 5 without any medical intervention. I have a 20 mo old and my pediatrician is insistent that they go away.....I'm starting to try other avenues but would love to see some photos if you wouldn't mind sharing.Thanks so much.

[missy]

I know you wanted facial hemangiomas, but I just got a whole album of hand hemangiomas from a mom who chose the wait and see approach.

[smurph]

Hi there! The above pictures belong to my daughter. She is now 16 months old. I thought I might mention that I also have a 5 year old that has a lip hemangioma that did require treatment. She was treated with steroids as a baby and just had surgery last week. My little one with the hand hemangioma had no treatment at all.

Our pediatrician when my 5 year old was a baby INSISTED that we leave her lip hemangioma alone and that it would go away. We took her to a specialist in Boston who had a different opinion and we decided to treat because of its location and the ulceration/pain that she had. The same specialist said the our baby's hand hemangioma would go away fine on its own mostly because of the location of it.

So what I'm trying to say is that our pedi was generally against treatment of any hemanioma, but the specialist had more specific knowledge of which ones to recommend treatment for and which to leave alone. So perhaps an opinion from a specialist (or one of the doctors on this website) would help to ease your concerns about the path you are taking. I have lots of pictures of my girls (and the progression of their hemangiomas) so feel free to email me and I can send them to you. hohen13@comcast.net

Shannon

[jkmorgan333]

I agree with smurph about seeing a specialist. Our pedi was against treatment too and insistent that they go away on their own, which while true doesn't take into account the differences of each individual hemangioma. Some would do well with treatment, and some are fine being left alone. Our daughter's hemangiomas are on the sides of her head and are slowly being covered by her hair (she's 11 months), and we only just started treating with propranolol. While her treatment was not medically necessary we chose to treat for psychosocial reasons. I got tired of people's comments, stares, and just general lack of knowledge about them. I wasn't interested in being a spokesperson for hemangiomas every time I took my daughter out in public. We were also worried that if hers got any bigger that by the time it did involute she would have a flap of skin that we would have to get removed so hopefully with the propranolol stopping the growth we won't have to worry about that.
So to make a long story short, I agree with smurph that even if you chose not to treat it's well worth seeing a dermatologist to get a more expert opinion.
Jen

[concernedmama]

thanks! We already saw a dermatologist and he indicated that she would probably have the flap of skin left over as well. I'm just trying to get an idea on how noticeable it will be. Hers is on her hairline and her hair is starting to grow in but it's a slow process. I wish I knew about propanol earlier......