Hemangioma Diagnosis

A hemangionma (also called strawberry hemangioma) is a usually harmless birthmark that appears as a bright red patch or a nodule of superfluous blood vessels in the skin. A hemangioma may enlarge during a newborns first year and gradually fade in the first decade of life. In the majority of cases a hemangioma does not require treatment.
  1. Causes

    • According to the National Institute of Health, hemangioma is an abnormal buildup of blood vessels in the skin or internal organs. Approximately 30 percent exist at birth and the rest develop during the first few months of infancy.

      It's uncertain exactly what causes the blood vessels to gather in mass but the Mayo Clinic says some researchers believe there is a connection between hemangiomas and specific proteins produced by the placenta during pregnancy.

    Types

    • The majority of hemangiomas appear on the face and neck. A hemangioma may be in the outer layer of the skin (capillary hemangioma) or deeper in the skin (cavernous hemangioma) and sometimes they are a combination of both types.

    Diagnosis

    • Your doctor will diagnose hemangiomas by conducting a physical examination. Although diagnostic testing is not usually necessary, when deep or combination lesions are present an MRI (uses powerful magnets and radio waves to take pictures of the body) or CT scan (uses x-rays to create cross-sectional pictures of the body) may be performed.

    Treatment

    • Superficial hemangiomas don't generally require treatment. They usually fade away on their own. Occasionally laser treatment (intense beams of light to precisely cut, burn, or destroy tissue) is used to eliminate the collection of small vessels.

      Cavernous hemangiomas that involve the eyelid and block vision are most often treated with steroid injections (Cortisone) or laser treatments. Some doctors use a comination of both therapies. These treatments promptly diminish the lesions whereby correcting obstructed vision.

    Prognosis

    • In rare instances, a sore can develop in hemangiomas and may cause pain, bleeding or infection. In about half of the cases of superficial hemangiomas the birthmark disappear by age 5. The vast majority (90 percent) are gone before age 10.

      According to the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology most doctors believe that small hemangiomas that are stagnant in nature should be left alone, especially if they are not visible due to clothing.

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