Today's Lesson: Birthmarks

I've been educating myself. Aren't you proud of me? Since I'm not working, I have to keep my mind from turning to mush.

I'm learning about a couple types of birthmarks. The ones known colloquially as "stork bite" and "strawberry mark". I'm learning about them because my kids have them. So, let me share my wealth of knowledge (so far).

Stork Bite: nevus flammeus nuchae
reddish or pink patches often found above the hairline at the back of the neck, on the eyelids or between the eyes. These marks are caused by collections of capillary blood vessels close to the skin. Patches on the forehead or eyelids usually fade with time. Those on the nape of the neck usually don't fade but are covered by hair. (Mayo Clinic)

Strawberry Mark: hemangioma
a benign self-resolving tumor of cells that line the blood vessels. It usually appears during the first weeks of life and resolves by age 10. (Wikepedia)

Josh was born with several stork bites. The biggest, most noticeable one is on his forehead and comes down between his eyebrows just a little bit. He also has them on his head and neck. They have all faded to some degree with the one on his forehead practically unnoticeable now. He also has a mark on his tushy which I thought was a stork bite, but since doing research I think now that maybe it's just a birth mark. I love the one on his tushy and hope that it doesn't fade.

Here's the one on the back of his head at about 2-months old.
(Remember that mullet? hee hee)

This is what his forehead looked like at about 4 months.

My jokester dad always likes to say "I can Photoshop that out for you..."

Emily also has these stork bites. The back of her head and neck look pretty similar to Josh's. She also has a tiny one in between her eyebrows and a small one on her right eyelid. The one on her eyelid really becomes noticeable when she's been crying.

The newest development, however, has been these strawberry marks. Around the time Emily's umbilical cord fell off I saw a tiny little red mark just above her belly button. Initially I thought she had scratched herself or that the dried cord had scratched her. What became weird was that this "scratch" didn't heal in the normal amount of time for a scratch. It continued to get bigger and darker and eventually I could feel it raising up on her skin. I wasn't urgently concerned so waited to ask the doctor at her 2-month appointment.

That's when I learned the word "hemangioma."

The doc said it can continue to grow, but usually reaches it's biggest by 6 months. Then it slowly starts to fade and shrink. I've heard conflicting time frames, but the longest range seems to say that by the age of 10 it should be as healed as it is going to be.

One month

Two months

You can see how much it's changed just in one month. What I really love is that it currently is kinda heart-shaped.

In the week following this appointment, we became aware of a bruised looking lump on the back of Emily's neck. It was probably about the size of a small walnut. I didn't want to mess around with anything on the neck, or near the spine, so back to the doctor we went. Turns out this was a hemangioma too. It's just so deep under the skin, that's why it's blue not red. I really hope this one doesn't grow much bigger. Even though I know it doesn't hurt her, it looks like it should and makes me feel terrible.

All of this sparked a memory from when I visited my cousin several years ago and I confirmed with her that her daughter had the same thing. It was nice to get the first hand account of both a raised red mark and a lump mostly resolving.

It sounds like an obvious and over-simplified statement, but having kids sure is educational.