What is a Hemangioma?
While it can be a minor birth defect, having a child with a hemangioma can be frightening for some parents. A child born with a hemangioma is more likely to be female, premature or to be born as a twin or triplet. A hemangioma begins as a small strawberry mark on a child's face or other body part. A hemangioma is a collection of blood vessels that has grown out of control, forming a raised, red birthmark.
When children with a hemangioma are babies, the hemangioma tends to grow over time. Parents become frightened when, by the age of one year, the child's hemangioma has become quite large. In some cases, the hemangioma is so disfiguring and fails to regress; hemangioma surgery may be required.
At the International Craniofacial Institute, a doctor who specializes in hemangioma surgery will look at the child's hemangioma and decide if it can be removed through hemangioma surgery or if the hemangioma is likely to resolve on its own. Doctors like to do hemangioma surgery before the child suffers too much from other children teasing him or her about the hemangioma. Sometimes tests are done to see how extensive the hemangioma has become before proceeding with hemangioma surgery.
What to expect during and after a hemangioma surgery
At the time of hemangioma surgery, doctors are careful to remove all of the hemangioma tissue so that no aspect of the hemangioma can grow back. The doctor is also careful to be certain that the child doesn't lose too much blood at the time of hemangioma surgery because a hemangioma is an extremely vascular lesion. Cosmetics are important in hemangioma surgery as well. The doctor makes sure that the child will look better after hemangioma surgery than before.
After the hemangioma surgery is over, the parents must keep the wound clean, dry and free of infection. The child may be used to touching the hemangioma and may want to get under the bandages. The benefits of the hemangioma surgery will be lost if the child picks at the wound before it is healed.
When the hemangioma is removed and the wound heals, the child will have a small scar where the hemangioma used to be. After this heals, the child's disfigurement from the hemangioma should be gone forever. In rare cases, the hemangioma could reoccur to some extend. In that case, hemangioma surgery may need to be repeated.