My son has a hemangioma on his forehead right above his right eye. We first discovered that it was a hemangioma or strawberry birthmark after our baby was 2 months old. Initially, we thought that he had just scratched himself, but after a week or two, it did not clear up and started to become bigger and redder. We immediately made an appointment with our pediatrician who did in fact tell us that our son had a superficial hemangioma and that it would probably grow to the size of a dime, possibly a nickle. You can imagine our horror at hearing this. Although there were positive aspects to the news in that hemangiomas are usually harmless and eventually fade, we were still alarmed at the information. My doctor recommended that we should leave it alone, but, to make me as a mom feel better, she gave us the name of a pediatric dermatologist at UNC in Chapel Hill, NC.
So, after scaring myself with too much Internet research, I made and appointment with Dr. Dean Morrell. He was fabulous and told us that with the type of hemangioma our son had, that there was a relatively new treatment, a topical eye cream called Timolol, that has been known to work on hemangiomas. There are other oral medicines and treatments used for hemangiomas, but a topical cream, is a much better route, especially when dealing with an infant.
We have been using Timolol, which is a beta blocker used for glaucoma in the eyes, for four months now and our babies hemangioma has not grown at all. In fact, since the first week of it's use, his hemangioma has lightened in color.
From our research and what our pediatrician and dermatologist has informed us, most hemangiomas stop growing around 6 months, but some can continue up to a year. So far, our son is over 6 months old, and we haven't seen any growth.
I started this blog in hopes that it would help out some parents or ease their minds if their babies developed hemangiomas. It's very scary to have a doctor tell you that there's nothing you can do about something growing on your son or daughter's face. What I have discovered is that there are many doctors willing to help with hemangiomas. Why let something grow when it really doesn't have to? So, I've been taking pictures of my son's hemangioma since we discovered it to not only monitor it's growth, but to help other parents see that there are treatments and it might not be as bad as some Internet sites or doctors tell you:) If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at :
meghanronin@yahoo.com.
We've noticed that in the 6th month, that it's been changing back and forth a lot. Sometimes, especially in the morning when he wakes up, the hemangioma appears a lot lighter in color. Throughout the day as he gets hot or active, it can appear bigger. 
B's 4 months old in this picture and the time that we noticed his hemangioma was the biggest during treatment. This is the time that we noticed how, if he is hot, his hemangioma looks a lot bigger and redder. His dermatologist said that this is normal because of the blood vessels. It did appear bigger this month for some reason and we were told by the doctor that usually between the ages of 4 - 6 months is when hemangiomas have been known to grow rapidly.
These two pictures were taken two weeks after we started the Timolol treatment twice a day. The hemangioma shrunk a little in size, was not raised anymore, and became lighter in color.
This picture was taken two weeks after the first one in the previous post. You can see how his hemangioma had grown rapidly and was very red in color. It had started to raise as well. This picture was right before we went in to the pediatric dermatologist for help.
This was one of the first pictures that we took of B's hemangioma. It started out very light in color. This was taken before our first appointment with our pediatrician. We knew at this point that it wasn't going away and that something was wrong.
