has anyone dealt with strawberry hemangiomas?

jamboree jess · August 2014

My baby has developed a strawberry hemangioma on the tip of his nose, and it's a bit worrying to me. I had several as a child and they didn't go away like the doctor said they would. It wasn't a huge issue, they are on my shoulder, hand, and scalp. According to Dr. Google, they grow rapidly for the first year, and then stop and eventually fade by school age. (Again, I'm 25, and mine did not) I'm worried about it eventually being a huge red lump on his nose that may not go away. Kids are mean, and I don't want him to be a target for bullying. I know that I'm probably thinking too much about this, and I shouldn't be so worried about something superficial.

So have any of you guys had them, or had kids with them? I just want to hear other experiences because I assume Google is only showing me worst case scenarios, and I am a bit terrified.

The attached picture is a week and a half old, it's grown a little bit since then.

jamboree jess · August 2014

Linzlu214 said:

My niece had one on her neck and she's 5 and it's gone now. It did grow for awhile but I'm not sure when it went away. I'm sorry you're dealing with that! That must be stressful.

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stuck in gray!

Yeah, I'm especially worried because apparently the nose is very prone to scarring since there's no fat. =/

ghostof5letters · August 2014

I have a friend who's daughter had one on her top lip next to her nostril. Her mom was worried about her air passage, and it got pretty bad but she's 4 now and it's much better. I'd post a picture but I don't want to put pictures on the internet of someone else's kid.

ghostof5letters · August 2014

YGPM

lamarei · August 2014

I had one on my upper lip when I was little. I think it was gone by age 2. No sign of it now!

jamboree jess · August 2014

lamarei said:

I had one on my upper lip when I was little. I think it was gone by age 2. No sign of it now!

hopefully Conor will have a similar experience. I dunno why mine didn't go away, but I still get asked if I was beaten or burned.

LyndseylovesHugh · August 2014

I have a very large one on my lower back, it never went away. My doctor did tell me that they can usually be removed by a laser. I never did that because it's on my back, but if you are concerned and it does not go away as he gets older maybe you can talk to his doc about options?

jamboree jess · August 2014

LyndseylovesHugh said:

I have a very large one on my lower back, it never went away. My doctor did tell me that they can usually be removed by a laser. I never did that because it's on my back, but if you are concerned and it does not go away as he gets older maybe you can talk to his doc about options?

I'll probably ask his ped what she thinks at his appointment in 3 weeks. I know that there are several treatment methods that may slow the growth. I'm guessing laser treatment would be super painful.

Shelleybell · August 2014

dd2 has one on her leg that is growing very rapidly since she was born. We saw the pedi on friday and she said that at this point she would not recommend seeing a vascular dermatologist because it is not impacting her breathing, eating, etc. She said new treatment is a very very small dose of a beta blocker for children but again the hemangioma has to be in a place that would impact your ds significantly. They told me it will go away or retract by the time she is 5-7 years old- but i agree something growing so fast and prominent on your little baby is so hard to see. She also said the most rapid growth happens within the first year. I know i have no advice, but we are in the same boat as you.

Huahine · August 2014

https://www.bumfuzzle.com/blog/2010/02/01/february-2010/

These guys had their daughter's nose tip hemangioma treated and blogged extensively about it.

Ds2 has one in his hip and scalp. We are taking a wait and see attitude about it, but if his were on his face we would be researching options.

jamboree jess · August 2014

Huahine said:
https://www.bumfuzzle.com/blog/2010/02/01/february-2010/

These guys had their daughter's nose tip hemangioma treated and blogged extensively about it.

Ds2 has one in his hip and scalp. We are taking a wait and see attitude about it, but if his were on his face we would be researching options.

Thank you for that, I'm a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to afford laser treatments monthly, but I am definitely going to call the pediatrician's office and seek some kind of treatment before it gets bad. Wait and see seems scary after googling nasal tip hemangiomas.

lar2680 · August 2014

My daughter has a huge one right on her hairline in the right side of her face. I'm not going to lie it got huge. When we look at baby pictures it really stands out. She's 2 now and it's lost all its red coloring, but it's still rather large and raised. My pedi said to take the wait and see approach and if we wanted to do something about wait until late preschool or before kdg.

Huahine · August 2014

Jess, I hope you can find a practice/ specialist that will work with you on the fees if you decide to seek treatment.

LyndseylovesHugh · August 2014

jamboree jess said:

LyndseylovesHugh said:

I have a very large one on my lower back, it never went away. My doctor did tell me that they can usually be removed by a laser. I never did that because it's on my back, but if you are concerned and it does not go away as he gets older maybe you can talk to his doc about options?

I'll probably ask his ped what she thinks at his appointment in 3 weeks. I know that there are several treatment methods that may slow the growth. I'm guessing laser treatment would be super painful.

Obviously I am an adult so the pain level may be vastly different, but my doctor told me that it is not painful, just uncomfortable. I believe he told me they could do something to numb it too, but I may be wrong about that, it has been a few years since I talked to him about it.

jamboree jess · August 2014

Going to the pediatrician to see what she thinks today.

Huahine · August 2014

Good luck! Let us know what the dr says.

jamboree jess · August 2014

Huahine said:

Good luck! Let us know what the dr says.

she told me it would go away on it's own, and to wait and see.

I wasn't a fan of that answer, so I'm seeing the hemangioma specialist at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin on September 3rd.

littlemissmarla · September 2014

jamboree jess How did everything go with the specialist? Our LO has one on her back/shoulder area that it started to get bigger and it seems pretty deep. Since being on her back i'm assuming they will say to let it run it's course which i'm fine with, I just am not sure if it's normal to feel so deep under the skin, like a big bulge. Hope your LO is doing well!

Huahine · September 2014

@jamboree jess I was also wondering how your specialist appt went. Hope it was helpful. @littlemissmarla‌ DS2 has a bulging one on his scalp. The pediatrician isn't worried about it. She offered to give us a referral to a specialist if we were, but we're going to let it ride and see if it starts to resolve by his 1st birthday.