Mum of 5 Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Hi all. My daughter is 8 and has a birth mark on her temple. She was refered to the plastics dept when she was 3. The dr said it can be removed easily with lazer therapy, and she was put on the waiting list. So 5 years on, she has finally made the top of the list. She is the biggest chicken when it comes to dr's. There is a chance she may have to have a general anesthetic as the mark is close ish to her eye. What I want to know is if there is anyone with experience of either lazer therapy or their child having treatment done when they are petrified of needles??? All help and advice is hugely appreciated, Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k8bug79 Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Hi all. My daughter is 8 and has a birth mark on her temple. She was refered to the plastics dept when she was 3. The dr said it can be removed easily with lazer therapy, and she was put on the waiting list. So 5 years on, she has finally made the top of the list. She is the biggest chicken when it comes to dr's. There is a chance she may have to have a general anesthetic as the mark is close ish to her eye. What I want to know is if there is anyone with experience of either lazer therapy or their child having treatment done when they are petrified of needles??? All help and advice is hugely appreciated, Thanks Hi, can i ask what type of birthmark your daughter has and where you are? My daughter is almost 4 and has a cafe au lait (dark brown) mark around her eye. we wanted to get it removed but nhs will only remove red birthmarks and to do it privately would not only be costly but may not be succesful. she has only just started to ask what it is. i believe the nhs' decision is dependent on the region. But in Australia it will be a total non funded process. I hate the idea she may be teased for it at school but don't want to put her through the trauma just yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mum of 5 Posted October 21, 2012 Author Share Posted October 21, 2012 She has a red one, don't know the name of it as the dr was on some cloud and lacked all ability to communicate clearly with us 'uneducated' folk. My gp has said it's a capillary type one, lazer therapy will be highly effective. We live in the west of Ireland, so are dealing with the HSE, and their promises that no child will be waiting for surgery for more than 5 months... seems someone mis interpreted months for years:err:. My girly has/had a strawberry as well, which is faded now, and well hidden on her bum. When she asked us what her mark on her face was, we said it was a kiss from the angels. She is quite fond of it and has had no issue with other kids in her school, just the ones from other schools who don't know her. We are going to Oz next summer, so we are lucky she has finally made the top of the list, so we can get it done before we go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k8bug79 Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 thanks, good to hear she isn't teased for it. my husband has just had a new tattoo so my 3 year old thinks this is her one lol. we just say its a mark and that she is special to have it. it gets darker in the sun which will be horrid in oz but hopefully as she gets older she'll learn to sun block it effectively and wear hat to help it. Hope your daughters treatment goes well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mum of 5 Posted October 26, 2012 Author Share Posted October 26, 2012 An update for anyone who has similar questions tom mine. We went to the hospital on Wednesday for the lazer therapy. The Dr spoke to us telling us that she would need about 5 zaps repeated 3 or 4 times. We said we may as well give it ago, because who knows if the chance will ever be there again. He used no anesthetic :eek:, and said it would feel like a snap of an elastic band. My girly said ok and got set, he gave it 1 zap, and she freaked :cry:, she screamed for about 5 mins, and I said enough. A mark is not worth upsetting her this much for. He said he's send us another appointment when she's 11 or 12, and has a higher pain threshold. So the pain it casues is like an electric shock, (daughters description), and it left her skin thick and swollen. It's suppose to bruise after, but since she only had 1 zap that didn't happen, and it was achey that night and the next morning. I haven't noticed any difference in the area she had zapped, but I will check it next week (trying not to draw any more attention to it for now). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k8bug79 Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 hi thanks for the update. sorry your daughter was so upset by it, makes me glad we didn't perservere for our 3 year old. i hope your daughter is happy and that she is comfortable with it An update for anyone who has similar questions tom mine. We went to the hospital on Wednesday for the lazer therapy. The Dr spoke to us telling us that she would need about 5 zaps repeated 3 or 4 times. We said we may as well give it ago, because who knows if the chance will ever be there again. He used no anesthetic :eek:, and said it would feel like a snap of an elastic band. My girly said ok and got set, he gave it 1 zap, and she freaked :cry:, she screamed for about 5 mins, and I said enough. A mark is not worth upsetting her this much for. He said he's send us another appointment when she's 11 or 12, and has a higher pain threshold. So the pain it casues is like an electric shock, (daughters description), and it left her skin thick and swollen. It's suppose to bruise after, but since she only had 1 zap that didn't happen, and it was achey that night and the next morning. I haven't noticed any difference in the area she had zapped, but I will check it next week (trying not to draw any more attention to it for now). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockDr Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 I have a red birthmark just below my temple. I grew up quite self conscious of it, as my mum always made a fuss about making sure my hair cuts would cover it so I wouldn't get bullied about it (funnily enough, it was the one thing I didn't actually ever get bullied about). Then when I was at uni, and my friend was helping do my hair when we were heading out one evening, I told her to make sure it was covered, and she just laughed in my face, saying something along the lines of "trust me, boys will not even notice that, they'll be too busy looking at other things like (insert long list of of my better attributes)". These days I forget it's even there, I'll put a bit of cover-up over it on occasions where there's likely to be important photos taken (such as my wedding, or other family occasions), but it's just an insignificant part of me now. I'll only get it removed if there's a medically necessary reason (i.e. my dermatologist tells me it needs to come off because it's changed shape or started bleeding without reason). If there's no medical reason to get it removed, I would just leave it, and let her make the decision when she's older. And in the meantime, don't fuss about it, answer her questions if she asks, and just ignore it the rest of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tickled Pink Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 I have a birth mark, the brown kind, on my cheek bone below my right eye, about the size of a finger nail. Because of where it is there is no chance of hiding it. It's not raised or anything like that, so there is no chance of it becoming cancerous around the edges or anything, its just a darker bit of skin. I'm an adult, and I have had more adults make comment about it than any children. But you know what? Its character! Madonna, and other celebs have their beauty spot, and so I have mine! It does have the tendency to go darker in the sun, so I wear a factor 30+ on my face every day, and if I am going to be outdoors for a long period I have a clear zinc stick (pick them up at any chemist) - this is useful for nose, ears etc anyway, and that does the job well. Obvioulsy hats and larger sun glasses help too. My husband doesn't even notice it, I have asked him what he thinks of it in the past, he was rummaging in the fridge at the time, and his response was 'I'm hungry.... what are you talking about? Can you show me later?' When I pointed it out he just said it was part of me, and that's it. I've had previous boyfriends think it cute. Growing up no one in my family really mentioned it. My advice would be not to make a big thing about it, because if you don't, the chances are it won't become a big deal for her either. I probably could do something about it now, but have no intention of doing so. Its part of me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newjez Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 My son was 2 when he had a major op. They gased him in my arms and there was no pain or distress for him (I cried and my wife was too upset to go in). The only real distress was when they did a blood test a few days later. They are pretty good at this sort of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tickled Pink Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 My son was 2 when he had a major op. They gased him in my arms and there was no pain or distress for him (I cried and my wife was too upset to go in). The only real distress was when they did a blood test a few days later. They are pretty good at this sort of thing. Trouble is that birthmark removal is slightly different, it isn't something that they will generally put a child to sleep for (a minor birthmark in any case), but if anything they use local anesthetic. The time it takes to do the removal procedure can vary, but it is often done over a series of sessions - ones that the child (or adult) has to stay still for. The distress you experienced for the blood tests a few days later is likely to be comparable to that the parent/child will go through for each session. And trouble is that the child needs to stay still, not wriggle about etc... certainly everytime I have been involved in the treatment of children (admittedly in a different medical field) the heath professionals don't feel comfortable forceably holding a child down for a non essential procedure, and as already mentioned above, will instead offer to wait until the child is cognitively more able to give consent in terms of understanding the small amount of discomfort will mean an outcome that they would like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mum of 5 Posted November 9, 2012 Author Share Posted November 9, 2012 Thanks DrRock and Tickled Pink, that's the experiences I was hoping to hear. My girl is aware of it, but not bothered by it. She's quite happy to have it, and wants to keep it. I'm delighted to hear positive experiences, and hope my girl has similar experiences. The plan for now is to leave it, only acknowledge it if she brings it up, and focus on our move next yr to Oz. Thanks :wubclub: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lillystar26 Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 She has a red one, don't know the name of it as the dr was on some cloud and lacked all ability to communicate clearly with us 'uneducated' folk. My gp has said it's a capillary type one, lazer therapy will be highly effective. We live in the west of Ireland, so are dealing with the HSE, and their promises that no child will be waiting for surgery for more than 5 months... seems someone mis interpreted months for years:err:. My girly has/had a strawberry as well, which is faded now, and well hidden on her bum. When she asked us what her mark on her face was, we said it was a kiss from the angels. She is quite fond of it and has had no issue with other kids in her school, just the ones from other schools who don't know her. We are going to Oz next summer, so we are lucky she has finally made the top of the list, so we can get it done before we go. I smiled when I read this......my son who is nearly 3 and a half has got a strawberry birthmark on his cheek. My daughter who has just turned 5 has always called it a kiss from the angels and doesn't want his to go away. It has faded loads now and we don't even notice it. We were offered laser but refused it as we decided it should be his decision. We found adults to be worse than children. He goes to school nursery and playgroup before that and has never had any teasing etc.... (we were concerned) I think it helps that he is comfortable with it being there (we have friends that tried to hide there sons, took pictures from the other side etc...) He was even watching peppa pig one day and said that she had a birthmark on each cheek he he. No point to this post really, just wanted to say I don't think people really notice or tease Vicky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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