Hemangioma on Son's Lip

[WillowHerb]

My son is 2. At 5 weeks old he started to develop a hemangioma on his bottom lip. We believe it's fully grown now it doesn't appear to be getting any bigger and he is under review with Maxofacial.

I am writing this post today as I was upset by a comment a complete stranger made. His hemangioma takes up about a half of his bottom lip so although it isn't huge it is noticeable. We were walking and my son was on his scooter. He had fallen off a couple times so was a little muddy. We passed a lady doing some gardening and my son wanted to stop and chat to her which we did for a couple minutes. We talked about his scooter and she said "He's obviously hurt himself" to which I (a bit confused) smiled and said yes. I thought she was reffering to his muddy jeans but later i realised she meant his birthmark. I get a lot of people ask me whats he done to his lip etc and I don't mind talking about it there will be a day when someone asks my son and i'm not around and he will need to tell them but just to say to his face "He's obviously hurt himself" really upset me! It was just the tone and directness of it. My son was oblivious to it as he's only 2 but as he gets older he won't be. Am i being too sensitive about this? We teach him about his birthmark he knows where it is if you ask him etc.

[DolaChangingFacesUK]

Hello WillowHerb, Welcome to the Changing Faces community and thank you for posting about your experience. It can be quite upsetting when people jump to conclusions or feel they have a right to make comments or ask interfering questions just because one (in your case, your son) has a visible difference. You are doing the right thing by talking to him about his birthmark and he sounds like a friendly little lad. So hopefully as he grows up he will be able to stand up for himself when mummy is not there to defend him. Do you have any particular worries about his future?

You may be interested in our self-help guides for parents and children which you can find at changingfaces.org.uk/advice... or get in touch with our Support and Information Line if you would like more direct support.

Best wishes,

Dola@ChangingFacesUK

[WillowHerb in reply to DolaChangingFacesUK]

Thank you. I do worry that he will be bullied as he looks different or children won't want to play with him. He does have a fantastic personality. He seems quite popular at nursery, he loves to play with all the children and they like to play with him, so I think his outgoing, social personality is definitely going to help him. We've been told it should start to go around the age of 10 and he may require surgery at a later date if he's left with excess skin or problems with his lip.

[WinterLove]

Hi my daughter is 3 months old she also has a hemangioma on her bottom lip. It grew rapidly and currently on beta blocker propranolol. She just started them yesterday do you have any experience with this? Sorry to hear that lady was so ignorant. Some people just don't think before they speak.

[WillowHerb in reply to WinterLove]

Hi! No it was deemed that my son didn't require any medication as it wasn't affecting his speech or feeding. His is more like a marble on his lip and doesn't go too far inside his mouth. His lip sometimes droops but its not deemed servere enough for medication. I know a friend of a friend whose child had these and it greatly reduced the size of it. Xx