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A few days or weeks after the birth of your baby, you noticed a red or bluish patch on their skin. Smooth or a little grainy, it measures between a few millimeters and several centimeters. It could be an infantile hemangioma, a benign tumor that affects 5 to 10% of newborns. it’s about the most common benign tumor in infants in the West. On average, little girls are more affected than boys. To date, the precise causes of the appearance of a hemangioma are not known.
Definition: what is a hemangioma or an angioma?
Any malformation resulting from excessively dilated blood vessels is called an angioma. Infantile hemangiomas are therefore a form of angioma. An infantile hemangioma is a benign tumor, or non-cancerous, cells that line the blood vessels. It is these blood vessels which have formed ‘extra’ during pregnancy and are not useful, which cause this condition. arteriovenous malformation. To recognize them, here are the three categories of hemangiomas that can develop on baby’s skin:
- those that touch the dermis are of a bright red and form either a smooth or a grainy plaque. This is why they are also called a strawberry”.
- those that affect the epidermis are bluish. They usually appear later than the red ones and can easily be mistaken for a hematoma.
- those which affect both the dermis and the epidermis, the most frequent, are therefore red in the center and blue around. They form a plaque on the skin, often a little large and grainy.
Hemangiomas measure between a few millimeters and several centimeters and are most often located on the baby’s head or neck. It is also rare for several hemangiomas to occur: they are isolated in 80% of cases.
When does an angioma appear?
Usually a hemangioma appears in the days or even weeks after birth. According to an article published in the journal of the general medicine department of Paris 7 Diderot, hemangiomas develop in three sentences: absent at birth, they grow, then stagnate, before reducing spontaneously. Usually, cutaneous hemangiomas stagnate around three months, while subcutaneous hemangiomas then continue to grow.
Infantile hemangioma: what are the symptoms?
Depending on its location, a hemangioma can be painful for our infant and cause crying and irritability. Some hemangiomas are located in critical areas and must be the subject of increased medical surveillance: they can for example cause compression, a mass effect, if they are at the nose, create lesions of the upper aerodigestive tract if they are close to the chin or the lower lip, and even cause visual disturbances when they are near the eyes.
Even if these plaques, or even masses, are benign, they are therefore not to be taken lightly.
Why a benign angioma or a bleeding strawberry?
Among the complications related to an infant hemangioma, bleeding is quite common. It is most often those located near the lips or neck that are prone to ulcerations, and therefore bleeding and pain for the baby.
Do infant angiomas go away?
In the vast majority of cases, no treatment is necessary to treat a hemangioma in babies. You have to be patient, the mass usually disappears during the first year. Sometimes it lasts longer, but eventually goes away on its own at five or even seven years.
Treatment: how to treat an ulcerated infantile hemangioma?
The tumor can nevertheless cause complications: lesions, necrosis, prevent the proper functioning of an organ (eye, nose, etc.), or cause psychological trauma to the child when it grows and is unsightly. If baby has complications, such as ulceration, beta blockers may be prescribed to him. It was in 2007 that a team from Bordeaux University Hospital discovered that propranolol, a beta blocker, was particularly effective against infantile hemangiomas. Since 2014, an oral solution for pediatric use, Hemangiol, has obtained its marketing authorization.
Corticosteroids may also be helpful if the angioma leaves a mark on their skin. If these drugs are very effective, they are used only in certain circumstances, because it is never harmless to prescribe several months to a young child.