I have been thinking about showing the progression of Khéna’s haemangioma for a while now and after a conversation with Annie the other day, I thought it would be a good time…  ( I know that I would have liked to see something simular when I saw that he had one)

First… what is it? (you might not imagine how many times I have had to answer this out in public)

Infantile haemangioma (American spelling ‘hemangioma’) describes a benign (non-cancerous) condition affecting cutaneous blood vessels. It is also known as proliferative haemangioma because it is due to proliferating endothelial cells; these are the cells that line blood vessels.

Infantile haemangiomas are proliferative lesions that usually develop shortly after birth. They are distinct from vascular malformations, which are usually present at birth and are less common.

Over 80% of infantile haemangiomas occur on the head and neck area. They grow to 80% of maximum size in the first three months and most stop growing at about 5 months. However, they may keep growing for up to 18 months.

After that, they undergo regression or involution. This can take as long as 3-10 years. Nearly all flat infantile haemangiomas eventually involute and disappear without treatment. However, regression of bulky haemangiomas tends to be incomplete, and they may leave an irregular atrophic (thin) scar or anetoderma (a dented scar) in at least 50% of cases.

From here…

though you don’t see it, he had an even bigger one under his hair but it grew quicker and faded completely by 18 months…

(you can see all of his pics here)

3 days old (no sign of it)

2 weeks old (you start seeing it)

1 month

2 months

3 months

from 5 months to about 14 months it was at it’s most intense… it was really thick and looked like it could burst….

(this is at about a year… it was more raised than this for a few months)

From 13 months to 18 months it pinked up…

14 months

15 months

At 18 months the middle became flesh coloured and it was no longer as raised and squishy…

second birthday… you can see it is fading more…

2 years 3 months….

3 1/2 years (he now also has a scar right next to his mark after falling)

4 years old

4 1/2 (he is showing the bump he got on the playground)

5 years old

7 3/4 years