Pioneering Treatment Helps Three-Year-Old Overcome Trauma Caused by Birthmark

Millie Field, who was almost strangled by a birthmark, can now breathe afresh thanks to a pioneering treatment.

The 3-year-old was born with a blue mark on her face, which was dismissed as a bruise that developed due to slight trauma during delivery. However the bruise grew very large in the succeeding days and was diagnosed as a hemangioma.

The latter is a birthmark, which is actually caused by a benign tumor of the blood vessels in the skin. "The tumour was growing everywhere meaning she couldn't suck, swallow and breathe at the same time. It all happened so fast. One minute we had our baby daughter and were imagining what she was going to do in the future and the next minute all those things felt like a dream," Millie's mother Michelle Field told the Daily Mail.

Even a tracheostomy did little to help the small girl. Finally the parents heard of a treatment using a beta blocker called propranolol, which was being used in a drug trial in France. The treatment improved Millie's life and allowed her to breathe freely as the birthmark began shrinking. She was allowed to go home from the hospital and her grateful parents are happy with the new lease of life given to their daughter.




Source: Medindia