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Home › Articles › General Health › Babies and Cosmetic Surgery

Babies and Cosmetic Surgery

When Should Newborn Imperfections Be Fixed?

By Katherine Bontrager

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"In the case of hemangiomas, the cells rapidly proliferate during the first few months of life, so during the first year, hemangiomas grow bigger," says Dr. Mike Patrick, a pediatrician, host of PediaCast: A Pediatric Podcast for Parents (www.pediacast.org) and author of the forthcoming Field Guide for Parents series. "However, then they slowly go away over the course of a few years. The growth of these alarms parents (they can be as big as golf balls at times), and moms and dads want them off! But surgical removal may result in permanent scarring and the hemangioma may grow back if some endothelial cells are left behind. So a wait-and-see approach is best for most of these."

There are, however, two exceptions to this rule, Dr. Mike says. "Sometimes hemangiomas erode through the skin and may result in bleeding. If this is a recurrent problem, surgical excision may be warranted. And rarely, a hemangioma becomes very large with a central cavity filled with clotted blood. This is called cavernous hemangiomas. These can compress surrounding structures and lead to other problems, so they, too, often require surgical excision."

Another common cosmetic complaint is Port Wine stains, which are caused by a collection of dilated veins just under the skin. "These are often larger than hemangiomas but tend to be flat (whereas hemangiomas often have a degree of elevation to them)," he says. "These typically don't grow or regress – they pretty much stay the same throughout one's life. They also rarely cause functional problems, so they are a true cosmetic issue. Rounds of laser therapy can be effective at resolving these, but it doesn't always work. Also, many insurance companies won't pay for the treatments or will limit the number allowed. So parents have to balance the cost verses the emotional impact of the lesion."


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