Hi Sasha, my daughter will be 3 in August. I've referenced this blog many many times since hers became ulcerated at 3-4 months old. We have a consult with the surgeon in November (he wanted to wait for a non sunny season). He mentioned there were 2 schools of thought...getting it off early, so it's over with...or waiting til she was 14 and stopped growing. He said that the benefit of getting off early is so that she won't have to worry about it (people comment on it often, and she is aware of it already) but that her scar may be a bit wider than it would be if we waited til she was older. He said it was up to us. I was just curious if you had a more recent pic of this? It looks like it's been a few years now?
Yes, it has been a few years- she turned 7 in January and her last surgery was just a little over 4 years ago.
We are *very* pleased with the result! To see progressions pics of WC's Hemangioma journey, visit this post.
Scar from Hemangioma revision surgery
Age 7 years, a little over 4 years after surgery
In my personal, non-medical-expert opinion, it is better to do the surgery earlier. I was told that the thick scar tissue would not stretch as she grew, so that it could actually be tight and painful as she got older. Note that it took two surgeries to do the scar removal- doing it in two steps allowed her skin to stretch naturally.
I hope this helps Mrs. Fancy Pants!
2 comments:
Thanks so much for posting this, Sasha! It is very helpful. Did you have it removed by a plastic surgeon? What was the elapsed time between the 2 surgeries?
It is interesting that you were told the skin wouldn't grow with her. I asked our pediatric dermatologist, and our surgeon (pediatric plastic surgeon)and they both seem to think it would grow with her. I am not sure why the information given is so different!
I would really like to have it removed sooner than later. He just mentioned the scar may be wider (because of her still growing),but I am not sure how much wider (could be unnoticeable to most, but plastic surgeons are perfectionists, which I do appreciate).
I also wonder if he was considering doing it in 2 different surgeries also, or if he hadn't considered that it may help prevent the difference in scar width he was concerned about.
He seemed to think both would be successful, and that it was truly up to us. I will definitely mention all of this to him when we see him.
Thanks so much!
:) disregard my questions about whether or not you had a pediatric plastic surgeon, and the elapsed time between surgeries. I was able to find that information in some of your old posts. Again, thanks for sharing all of this.
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