The purpose of this study is to find out if pulsed dye laser treatment or timolol maleate 0.5% gel can help infants who have a hemangioma. The investigators also want to find out if pulsed dye laser treatment and timolol maleate 0.5% gel are safe to use without causing too many side effects.
Hemangioma is a common type of birthmark. These birthmarks happen when many new blood vessels grow in a specific area on the skin. Blood vessels are tiny tubes that carry blood through the body. No one knows what causes blood vessels to group together. Most birthmarks don't hurt at all and they usually aren't a sign of any kind of illness. Lots of newborns have these birthmarks on their bodies, like between the eyebrows. These birthmarks usually disappear within the first few months to years of life. These birthmarks tend to disappear spontaneously. Most hemangiomas are not treated unless the hemangioma threatens the child's health, which occurs in about 1 in 3 children with hemagiomas.
Pulsed dye laser is widely used in children, and is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating hemangioma.
The FDA has approved timolol maleate to treat glaucoma in adults, but the FDA has not approved timolol maleate to treat hemangiomas in children. About 7 infants with hemangiomas have received timolol maleate. The results so far show that timolol maleate may be helpful and safe in treating hemangiomas in infants.
An important question being tested in this study is whether pulsed-dye laser or timolol maleate can prevent hemangioma from growing when used very early after birth.
Subjects aged less than 3 months, male or female.
Infant with one or more superficial hemangiomas in the preproliferative phase or very early proliferative growth phase.
Absence or minimal appearance of the lesion at birth
More pronounced appearance within 1 month of birth.
Infants already on other treatment prior to PDL or timolol treatments (including topical, systemic steroids or other agents)
Any infant who, in the opinion of his or her pediatrician or the investigators, has a major medical problem (such as cardiac pathology or airway obstruction) that makes participation in the study difficult
Infants with hemangiomas that threaten vital functions (e.g. obstructing the airway or impairing hearing or vision)
Scarring or infection of the area to be treated