As I was sitting in the hospital with nothing to do, since Kaiden had to stay in NICU for awhile to watch for seizures I did some research with my handy dandy Kindle about what a port-wine stain is and what causes it.
WHAT IS IT? A vascular birthmark. The blood vessels don't form properly and that is what causes the reddish-purplish color to appear. They are most commonly found on the face, but can occur anywhere on the body. This birthmark is there from birth. It grows with the child and can raise, get darker, and feel pebbly as the person gets older.
WHAT CAUSES IT? Port-wine stains happen when an area of skin doesn't get any supply of nerve fibers, which normally help keep blood vessels narrow. When there's a lack of nerve fibers, small blood vessels, called capillaries, keep expanding, allowing a greater amount of blood to flow into the blood vessels, causing a stain to form under the skin.
Port-Wine Stains CAN'T be prevented, and they are NOT caused by anything a mother did during pregnancy.
WHY MONITOR IT? If the stain is near or around the eye or forehead you should keep a close eye on it. This is because they may be associated with an uncommon neurological disorder where the stain is also located on the brain and can cause things such as seizures, developmental delays, and learning disabilities. Stains located on the eyelid can also lead to glaucoma, though it is rare.
TREATMENT? "Pulsed-dye" laser is the treatment of choice by most dermatologists. Most treatments are started in infancy since the blood vessels are smaller and it is easier to treat. Laser treatments don't always remove the entire stain and after time the birthmark may come back and will need to be retreated.
All the information I have posted can be found here. The bolded blue statement helped me more than anything else I read. I thought it was something I did wrong, something I could have done different, but it wasn't.
I just want people to know what this is, and to not judge people when they see them like we have already had to deal with with our son.
