Vanishing Act

You know when you were finally old enough to realize that a magician wasn't actually magic? When you finally realized that his vanishing act was merely a trick. A false floor, a burst of smoke, a distraction. Well, C's hemangioma is performing a vanishing act of its own... no strings attached. No tricks. 


C had a follow up appointment with her dermatologist yesterday. Since we were denied by insurance for laser surgery, we have opted to stick with other treatments. The thought of putting our baby girl through surgery for something that is now strictly cosmetic was more than Husband and I could handle. 


We are still using propranalol (blood pressure medication) thrice daily and applying clobetasol (steroid cream) at night for two weeks on and one week off. Dr. Theos was pleased with how they have been working. C's hemangioma is obviously much smaller in diameter, less raised, and less red. Just the difference from two months ago is amazing:

8-10-11 : 10-12-11

We were also thrilled to hear that we are on the tail end of all of this. Infantile hemangioma's like C's typically begin to decrease in size after six months of age and almost never increase after the first year. It's comforting to know that while it may still be there, it's going away.


Nothing could have prepared me for what would happen in the first couple months of her life. Being told that "it will get bigger" did not prepare me for the dark red, raised bump on my child's forehead, nor did it bring me ease when I thought it couldn't possibly get worse. But, to know that the treatments are working, and that in a year, there may be no sign of it at all, is freeing. Modern medicine is a wonderful thing.

Day 1 of treatment : After 5 months treatment

Now that C weighs a little more (16 pounds, 4 ounces as of yesterday), we were able to increase her dosage of propranalol. The propranalol is precautionary, just in case the hemangioma is still trying to grow. After her first birthday, we will taper it off completely. We are also beginning to taper off of the clobetasol. Instead of two consecutive weeks on and one off, we will only apply it every other night during the two weeks, then every third night, etc, until we are finished completely. I can't believe that one day very soon our daughter will no longer be on a daily regimen of medications!


It's hard to believe that in a few years or even months, this birth mark will vanish. Really vanish. It will not be concealed by a myriad of accessories. It will actually be gone. Forgotten. And as our beautiful daughter glances in the mirror, she will not see a scar from an unnecessary surgery. She will just see the beautiful olive complexion her Daddy gave her.