Hemangioma

Some of you may have seen or maybe not, but Grace has a hemangioma on her left shoulder. We took her to a dermatologist back in the beginning of June but I didn't feel as comfortable with what he told us so we took her for a second opinion on Monday.

Just a little background:
Hemangiomas are a type of birthmark that is a self involuting benign tumors of endothelial cells (the cells that line blood vessels). In most cases it appears during the first days or weeks of life and will have resolved at the latest by age 10. Hemangiomas are connected to the circulatory system and filled with blood. The appearance depends on location. If they are on the surface of the skin they look like a ripe strawberry, if they are just under the skin they present as a bluish swelling. Females are three to five times more likely to have hemangiomas than males. Hemangiomas may break down on the surface (ulcerate).

Hemangiomas go through three stages of development and decay:
1. In the proliferation stage, a hemangioma grows very quickly. This stage can last up to twelve months.
2. In the rest stage, there is very little change in a hemangioma's appearance. This usually lasts until the infant is one to two years old.
3. In the involution phase, a hemangioma finally begins to diminish in size. Fifty percent of lesions will have disappeared by age five with the vast majority gone by puberty.

When Grace was first born we thought it was a bruise that happened during delivery. If you look carefully in this picture of her just after birth you can see that the skin is red on her left shoulder...


After talking with the pediatrician while in the hospital it was determined that it was either a hemangioma or a port-wine stain but then later at our first dermatologist appointment he told us it was just a hemangioma. Now, here's a picture of it at just almost two months:

Grace's hemangioma is on the surface and under the skin, therefore she has the ripe strawberry look and the bluish swelling. In the past 2 weeks it had begun to ulcerate which means that the skin is beginning to break down in places. The doctor we saw on Monday seemed to think that Grace's hemangioma should fade for the most part by the age of 5. He took pictures of it to begin the monitoring process and said he will be with us every step of the way to help us monitor it. He gave us medicine to put on the parts that have begun to ulcerate. There are 4 small spots. We go back on July 15th to see him again to determine if the medicine is helping the ulcers. This doctor showed us before & after pictures of another little girl who had this same type of hemangioma on her arm and it was amazing the difference after a few years. Just thought I'd educate those that read the blog about Grace's hemangioma as well as to document it on her blog so that when I print it out into a book there will be something about it in there for her to read one day.

We are so blessed to have a beautiful, healthy baby girl! :)