In newborns, you see a flat red spot on the skin a couple of cm large. This is most often on the cheek on one side, but can also appear elsewhere. It causes few problems, except in terms of appearance. During childhood, it grows with the skin and covers the same area of skin. Over the course of life, the port wine stain will often become thicker and darker.
During fetal life, more blood vessels form in an area of the skin than normal. Blood vessels are usually dense in the skin, but in a port wine stain they are even denser. The medical name is vascular malformation, of which port wine stains are one of the types. This is almost never dangerous, but can occasionally be an expression of other congenital disorders. Occurring in one in 300 children, port wine spots are something other than a stork bite (neck) and hemagioma (a red lump that grows in the first few months after birth).
Laser treatment is the most effective treatment, and can be performed in hospital under anaesthesia. Several treatments are necessary and the entire stain does not always disappear.
Our dermatologists help people of all ages, from newborns to the elderly, with everything from simple skin changes to serious conditions.
Our dermatologists help people of all ages, from newborns to the elderly, with everything from simple skin changes to serious conditions.
