As laser treatments go, the first time is always the hardest and the scariest. You've made all the phone calls, you've registered, you've been through the pre-op physical, and you're ready. But you're not! You're so not ready to hand over your child to a stranger to be anesthesized. You don't want yet another stranger zapping your child with a laser. You don't want to have to go home with a child who's bruised, swelling, and itching. And most of all....you don't want your child to know that you made the decision to do this THING to him.

There, I've said it. The not so great part of laser treatments. It does gets better every time. But there's always a nagging feeling in the back of my head saying...."Are you nuts? What are doing? Why are you making him go through this again?"

In truth, laser treatments are not that traumatic. But as a parent, it's a very difficult process to initiate. No, we don't want our children to go through this. Yes, we wish it would just go away. But in the end we do it for a really good reason. We do it for our child.

Because of the continuous and developing research of port wine stains and vascular malformations, we feel that the earlier we treat our child the better the chances are that they can avoid the side effects of a vascular malformation that is allowed to develop untreated. These side effects in Ben's case include thickening of the skin, darkening of the PWS, blebs that develop and bleed, and hypertrophy (overgrowth) of the tissue involved. The decision to treat or not treat is conflicting in itself. There are many people out there with vascular malformation's (including port wine stains) that have never had treatment and they do not have any of the side effects that can accompany the vascular malformation. However, there are also many out there who have never had treatment, and do experience painful or emotional side effects of their condition. So, the question is...what is our choice? We decided to treat Ben immediately. We feel that the medical implications of his vascular malformations's are not worth risking. We are hoping to do the bulk of his treatment before his skin ages, as the older he gets the harder it will be to get the best effects from the laser. As a last deciding factor, the cosmetic reasons for lightening his PWS come into play. Face it, school age kids are just plain mean sometimes. We want to give our son the best chance we can to avoid the emotional trauma of his birthmark.

At the time that I'm writing this, Ben has had 8 laser treatments on his birthmark. Because of his age, and the extent of his birthmark his treatments are done under general anesthesia. The decision to use anesthesia is a personal decision between you and your doctor. We choose it out of neccesity and compassion. Laser treatment is not painless, and for a young child with a birthmark of Ben's size, we believe anesthesia is necessary. Ben's birthmark gets 300-350 "zaps" from the laser during each treatment. I can not attest to what the zaps feel like as I haven't been through it. There are many people who compare it to a rubber band snap on their skin.

Our typical visit to the hospital for laser treatment goes something like this:

We arrive at the hospital and check into the same day surgery unit about 1 1/2 hours before Ben's treatment. Once we get there, we change him into his hospital attire, and the nurse checks his vitals and take a short history. Ben is treated at a children's hospital, so there is plenty to keep him busy...toys and games everywhere. We especially like being at a children's hospital because the staff is accustomed to working with children. It makes the small stuff much easier.

After the initial exam by the nurse, the anesthesiologist stops in to talk to us and answer any questions we may have. They also go over his history with us one more time, explain the procedure, and explain to us what exactly they will be doing with Ben during the laser treatment. We've found that each anesthesiologist has their own technique and routine. Some will start an IV, some won't. Some will ask if we want them to administer pain medication. These are things that you should discuss with the anesthesiologist at this time.

Next the doctor performing the actual laser treatment will stop in to chat. This is usually very short. He asks if we have any new concerns. He tells us what laser setting he will be using this time around, and asks what kind of results we've seen since the last laser treatment. Then we're off!

My husband and I walk Ben into the room where they anethesize him for the procedure. We hold him while they use the mask to put Ben to sleep. In all honesty, this is the worst part of his treatment as far as he's concerned. Ben hates the mask! Thus, this is also the hardest part for Mom and Dad. This is why we take turns holding him...it helps with the emotional strain.

Once Ben's treatment is started, we head off to the waiting room. It's a short wait. Even with 300+ zaps, Ben's treatment is accomplished in about 10-15 minutes. The doctor finds us in the waiting room to let us know he's finished, and then we wait about 30 more minutes for Ben to wake up. Once he wakes up, someone comes to get us and we all go to the recovery ward. At this time, the nurses once again check his vitals and remove the IV if one has been put in. Ben is of course very groggy, but usually not upset. We rock him for a while and give him a popsicle and some juice. Once he's held down his juice or popsicle, we're done. The time spent at the hospital after he wakes up varies from 1-2 hours. It really depends on Ben. By the time we get home, he's back to his old active self. Just a bit more purple and bruised.

Ben's Home

Ben's Story Page 1 - The Birthmark

Ben's Story Page 2 - Finding a Doctor

Ben's Story Page 3 - Sturge Weber Syndrome

Ben's Story Page 4 - The AVF

Ben's Story Page 5 - Ben Goes To New York

Ben's Story Page 6 - Parkes Weber?

Ben's Birthmark Progression

What is Sturge Weber?

What is a Port Wine Stain?

What is an AVF?

What is an AVM?

What is Parkes Weber?

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Ben 1 day after laser treatment

For this particular treatment the laser was set light as Ben had recently had the chicken pox.

Ben 1 day after his most recent treatment

This time we tried a new laser