Popping in from 0-3 looking for advice and experience...
At DS's 1-month appointment I had the pedi look at a red line on DS's pinky finger where I thought I bruised him struggling with him to file his nails. Pedi told me it was a strawberry hemangioma that we would monitor. It has grown rounder and darkened in this second month. From what I've read, they seem to grow for a year and then can begin to fade.
Just wanted to hear from mommas whose LOs have them. Did your LO's grow significantly over the year? Do people ask what it is? Did you end up going to a dermatologist? What method of treatment did they use? Any advice or experience would be appreciated
Re: If your LO has a strawberry hemangioma please come in
My daughter has one on her head. The pedi said it would grow and then eventually fade. She is almost 10 months old and it was started getting smaller. We encounter people out in the public who notice and share their story - their child had one and it faded by the time they were 2 or 3. You can do laser treatment but it is painful. Laser is usually done if the hemangioma is near the eyes or ears, etc...It bothered me at first, especially since she had only a little bit of blond hair. Her hair is finally growing and covers most of it.
DD has 2 hemangiomas... one diaper area and the other on the back of her neck. The one on her neck is the size of a pencil point and is already starting to fade.
The diaper area one is on her labia and is now about the size of the tip of my pinky. It started the same way as your LO but we noticed it at her 2 day check up in the hospital. I thought the nurses had bruised her cleaning her up and questioned them. They brought the pedi in and he said it looked like it was just a birth mark. by her 2 week check up it turned from purple to red and became round in size the pedi confirmed it was a hemangioma and not to worry.
It grew VERY fast in the first 2-3 months then slowed down around 6 months i noticed it started turning grey in the middle and not receeding but looked less "swollen" Now its starting to go away in the middle and the endges look less red/"swollen"
My understanding is they grow typically for the 1st year then begin to receed and when they do this they will turn greyish then regualr skin colored. im lucky in the fact that noone but daycare sees it and i explained it to them on day one so i have no advise on that topic. If anybody brings it up tell them the truth its a birthmark.
We did not need to see anybody special our pedi just checks it at every appointment to make sure it looks ok. One concern in the diaper area hemangiomas is it rupturing and getting infected. They usually will only remove them if they are on the face and risk getting in the way of the eyes or nose or in the diaper area ones if they rupture.
My only concern with having one on LOs had would be if it grew large how it would effect his ability to use it... but honestly LOs dont use thier pinkys much for anything. I would just watch to see if its getting in the way of how LO uses his hand.
I did find keeping it lubricated with Aquaphor helped. The more elastic the skin the better it will take to the rapid growth. This was easy bc i applied it during diaper changes but on your LOs hand could be hard to put anything on it and you dont want to risk your LO ingesting an ointment.
honestly you need to just watch it and there is not much else you can do. It will go away after they turn 1 typically. GL
DS has one on his left side, at about the level of his bellybutton. He is 9 months now, and it hasn't grown at all since he was about 4-5 months. At first it was just little red dots that just started growing a little bigger each day. His isn't all one, it's more of a cluster, but they are raised a little. Pedi said the sooner it stops growing, the sooner it will go away, which is good in my case. There is really no need to go to a dermatologist. Pedi said not to mess with it, and don't scratch at it or poke it. His main point was just don't worry about it, they aren't harmful and don't hurt, and they WILL go away.
And, yes, EVERYONE (who sees his tummy) asks about it. Especially since we have been to pool parties. We just tell them exactly what it is, tell them it's like a birthmark, and that it will go away. They usually drop it after that.