Hemangioma of the Lower Lip and Tongue
What is a Hemangioma Excision?
Hemangioma excision is a medical procedure where surgical techniques are used to get rid of benign tumors. Strawberry hemangiomas are often known as strawberry birthmarks. A hemangioma surgery removes the abnormal growth in a manner that reduces both physical as well as psychological pain for the patient in question.
Hemangioma refers to a bright red birthmark that normally appears around the neck, face or other body parts within the first weeks of the individual’s life. The hemangioma could grow substantially within 4-6 months and reach its peak between the period of 8 months to a year. It begins to shrink when the child is 12-18 months of age. Although the hemangioma could disappear slowly, it is often replaced with a fibro-fatty scar, which in turn could need scar revision.
Whenever a patient experiences a significant functional deficit or aesthetic deformity resulting from a growing hemangioma that stops responding to medication, that is when medical professionals recommend a hemangioma excision. Since all hemangiomas are different, various involutional results could occur. It is often advised to wait till the involutional phase is complete to determine whether surgery is needed or not.
The procedure brings across numerous benefits, such as improving the appearance of the individual, providing relief from nasal obstruction, minimizing the extent of the hemangioma’s growth, keeping short-term and long-term issues at bay, and ensuring there’s minimal scarring post the excision and reconstruction. Hemangiomas happen to be the most common tumor of infancy that occurs in approximately 10-12% of all white children. They are also almost twice as common in premature infants.
How We Handled a Face Hemangioma Plastic Surgery
We once handled a face hemangioma plastic surgery case at Richardsons Dental and Craniofacial Hospital that serves as one of our success stories to this day. A 17-year-old boy visited our hospital with his father, complaining about a swollen lower lip and tongue that had accompanied him since childhood. The swelling had increased in size as the years passed by. After the lesion on the tongue and the lips were examined, it was detected to be a soft compressible lesion with a reddish hue. Numerous reddish nodules were found on the dorsum of the tongue, which led to it being diagnosed provisionally as a hemangioma.
Along with routine blood tests, other important investigations were conducted as well, such as Cone Beam CT scan and MRI angiography. After a couple of days, Dr. Sunil Richardson, our founder, performed the excision of the lesion, which lasted for two hours. Most of it was performed using laser and cautery, ensuring no residual scar was left on the face. The excised specimen was then sent for a histopathological examination. The patient was discharged on the third day after his face hemangioma plastic surgery. At Richardsons, we manage hemangioma removal on the face and hemangioma removal in adults on a regular basis, and looking at the hemangioma removal before and after photos is proof enough to see how deftly our professionals handle such cases of face hemangioma treatment.