Treatment improves for ‘strawberry marks’ condition that can be potentially life-threatening

Doctors at Cork University Hospital (CUH) have developed a novel photo-triage referral system for babies with “strawberry marks”, a condition that can be life-threatening if untreated, and can lead to long-term facial deformities.

The national pilot scheme will allow GPs email a photo of an infant’s haemangioma or “strawberry mark” to a dedicated HSE email address where it will be reviewed by a consultant paediatric dermatologist. If the haemangioma — bundle of excess blood vessels under the skin — is high risk, the infant will be referred without delay to a paediatric dermatologist in either CUH, University Hospital Galway, Temple St, Crumlin Children’s Hospital, or Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, depending on where they live.

Project co-ordinator Dr Michelle Murphy, CUH paediatric dermatologist, said only a small number of babies with a haemangioma need to be treated, but treatment was “time sensitive”.