Hemangioma? Anyone have a baby with one?

Question

My little boy is 17 weeks and he has a large hemangioma on his head just in front of his fontanelle. My HV says that it will go away in time. How long should it take to disappear? Do I need to be extra careful with it? What causes them, was it something I did when I was pregnant?

Answer 1

You don't usually need to be "extra careful" with hemangiomas. If it does ulcerate, you may need to take some extra measures to heal the ulceration and prevent infection.

While there has been speculation as to the cause of hemangiomas, the cause has not yet been identified. It is nothing you did during pregnancy.

As for how long they take to disappear - that is almost impossible to say. I have seen some large ones on the head that involuted quite quickly, but that is not always the case. (Also, they do not disappear, but rather they involute, or shrink. Many leave very little evidence that they were there, but there is always something left behind - slightly discolored skin, minor scar, etc.)

I do not know how large your son's hemangioma is, but very large ones on top of the head may leave a bald spot after involution. Most doctors will not remove them before a child is three or four years old, but if his hemangioma is unusually large, you might contact a doctor experienced with hemangiomas through an organization like Vascular Birthmark Foundation (www.birthmark.org).

My youngest had a large hemangioma removed from the face at 11 months, as well as a smaller one removed from the top of the head.

Answer 2

It has nothing to do with what you did while pregnant. Actually, it's not really known what causes them. You don't have to be extra careful with them either.

My daughter had a good size strawberry hemangioma on the top of her head and one right in her panty-line. My doctor advised me they will fade over time. She's almost 3 now and the one on the top of her head is almost completely gone.
Since the other one is in a place where nobody can see it, we'll probably do nothing if it doesn't end up fading.

Answer 3

Strawberry hemangiomas is one of the birthmarks that we find in newborns. THis hemangioma is kind a weird in its location in the head cause the most I see is in the neck and face. Large hemangiomas should be monitored by a doctor cause hemangiomas have blood vessels that might bleed, and if large it wont dissappear. Most children affected by this,it will be an aesthetic problem .Some of them would like to have it taken out .

Answer 4

It's nothing you did when you were pregnant... it just happens.
It's supposed to be taking between 1 and 3 years to go.... but it does happen that some of them stay...
I had one in the middle of my forehead as baby and looked like a nice little budda with the 3rd eye ;-)... it went in time before I was 3 y.o but it can sometimes reappear ever so faintly if under a great emotion/anger/stress. My little baby daughter has one at the base of her skull and like your baby will be hidden by hair if it doesn't go straight away....
Good luck & lots of happiness with the future.

Answer 5

My baby has one on her ear and it is a strawberry hemangioma. My doctor told me that by age 5 90% of these will fade away and you could barely tell it was ever there. My doctor said it wasn't my fault during pregnancy and that its more common then we know.

Answer 6

my son has one just under his right eye the health visitor says it will go away by the time he is 5.
we used to get lots of disaprovong looks and lots of people kept asking if he had fallen (cmon guys how can a 5 week old baby fall?????)
good news is its starting to disapear already he is now 14 months and doing very well.
if anybody asks just tell them straight they will be more embarressed than you