When is the best time to start treatment for pediatric cutaneous hemangioma

Parents often wonder whether treatment is needed, when to start treatment, and what treatment is appropriate for their newborns or those born a few months ago. Clinically, there are four types of cutaneous hemangiomas: nevus, simple hemangioma, cavernous and mixed hemangioma. Although some scholars and doctors believe that some infants and children with cutaneous hemangiomas can subside on their own, most of them will not subside but will gradually increase in size, and delayed treatment may affect their appearance and function. Therefore, most cutaneous hemangiomas require treatment. The earlier treatment of cutaneous hemangiomas is started, the better the outcome, as the newer vessels respond better to treatment. Hemangiomas that have been present for many years have a relatively poor response to treatment. Hemangiomas that are short in duration, small in size, and relatively thin in appearance require relatively little treatment and are relatively inexpensive to treat. For some children with rapid growth of cutaneous hemangioma and rapid growth of tumor area and thickness, early and timely treatment is necessary because even if laser treatment has been started, it takes time for the tumor to subside, so the tumor will shrink only after the tumor growth is controlled. The course of treatment for this part of patients is relatively long and the efficacy of treatment will not be significant at the early stage of treatment. Parents must have patience and persist in the treatment. The most common and safe treatment method is pulsed dye laser. It can selectively destroy the proliferating blood vessels, causing little damage to the skin tissue and not easy to leave scars. Usually after several treatments a cure can be achieved. Some parents worry about their children being small, frightened or in pain. We find that the younger the child, the less discomfort they have to respond to the treatment. In contrast, older children are prone to psychological fear due to their relatively strong memory of the pain of the treatment. Therefore, theoretically, there is no need to worry about the psychological reaction to treatment in young children, while ideological work needs to be done in older children so that they can better cooperate with the treatment.