Sun’s Hemangioma, Revisted
Aug 26th, 2008 by Nola
I wrote some time ago about Sun’s hemangioma, or strawberry mark. Several of you have e-mailed me inquiring about how she’s coming along. I appreciate your concerns and wanted all to follow her progress.
This is Sun’s leg now:
Today, we had her ninth laser treatment. The doctor tells me that he is “completely confident” Sun will not need surgery for her hemangioma. He is delighted with her progress and warns that her leg is likely to have “texture issues”—the texture of the skin is likely to be a bit wrinkly. But he expects the redness as well as the raised-ness of the mark to continue to completely dissipate.
Overall, we are very pleased with her treatment and have no regrets about the course we took. I do believe she is too young to remember this experience, and, really, she seems fine as soon as the treatment is over. So it isn’t too harrowing on either of us!
At this point, the doctor tells us the mark will go away on its own and the laser treatment is just hastening the process. And having come this far, I am willing to continue with the treatments so that it will be gone before Sun is old enough to be asked directly the rude questions we continue to be asked. I was surprised to discover that other children are far more kind about it than adults. And if I can shield Sun from that rudeness by hastening the mark away, then that is the path we will continue to go.
Thanks again to those of you who e-mailed me. It really meant a lot to me.
Stumble it!
Oh the poor wee thing.
That just breaks my heart that does.
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What a little sweetheart. It is great that the treatment is going so well. I just want to squeeze those thighs! Lucy has almost outgrown her baby thighs…my favorite part of a baby.
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my daughter has a hemangioma on her ear. it closed up her ear canal for a while when she was 4 months old, but now it seems to have stopped growing. they gave her steroids around 3 months old for it, but i took her off because i worried about giving them to her so young. i’m just letting the thing run it’s course. i know it looks ugly, but it’s not like she’s dating or anything, and it should go away on its own soon.
pistolette’s last blog post..Most Unoriginal Found in “Best of New Orleans”
one of the cool things about kids is that they grow out of so many problems. here’s to Sun outgrowing her mark.
YatPundit’s last blog post..Hang a Gold Medal in the Arena
Having been there, I know it’s easy to second-guess the course of treatment. But like you, I don’t regret one bit of what we’ve done for our little one.
wow, what a wonderful improvement!!!! I still can’t believe someone asked you if it was a tatoo–idiots!!
jen’s last blog post..The cutest baby gift ever!
wow! Is it weird that I have never noticed it? I just see a cute little girl!!! Granted I guess I haven’t seen her since far into her treatment…but still…..
stacey’s last blog post..Vigilante
I’m with Stacey - never noticed it. She is such a delightful child. I wuv her.
Charlotte’s last blog post..One Man’s Story of Katrina Survival
Wow. It looks like it is really coming along!
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It must be wonderful to see it disappear. My daughter daughter also had a “strawberry kiss” (German expression) on her leg, but it was not so extensive and thankfully disappeared by the time she was ten years old. I think once the raised area descends, it won’t matter whether the skin is a bit textured or a bit red. I’m sure she will be all right and will forget the treatments. Kids are good at doing that.
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Adults can be extremely rude.. I could swap stories of horrible comments I received when Donnie was little and suffered from what they called teenage acne on his cheeks.. some people just have no clue how ignorant they are..
And I am so with you that if you can shield her from that.. go for it..
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Amazing progress and I’m so glad the treatments have been effective. And you’re right, adults are the worst when it comes to thoughtless and rude comments. Kids are genuinely inquisitive.
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My sister had a strawberry mark on her leg when she was a baby–not as extensive as Sun’s but very noticeable. She underwent surgery for it while a baby (laser not yet invented). The surgery left a scar, but she simply outgrew it. By the time she was a teenager, the raised skin texture was barely noticeable, and eventually it disappeared completely. One would never know now that she ever had such a mark.
Why not take advantage of new medical treatments that can hasten the process? As you say, Sun’s too young now to notice comments, but by the age of three or so she’ll probably start noticing and remembering, and she doesn’t need to feel bad about herself. People are such idiots, really. TGIL (thank God for lasers)!
Sphinx Ink’s last blog post..Yikes! Not another one!
What a little sweetie. My oldest daughter Miss E (8) has eczema and is dealing with comments on a regular basis. Sometimes it breaks my heart, even though her eczema is well controlled and not as serious as it could be. I would do anything to take it away from her so I think what you’re doing is good.