A 4-year-old girl in the U.K. with a hemangioma on her face hopes to soon have the growth removed as it has made her a target for teasing and bullying, her mom says.
Speaking to South West News Service (SWNS), a British news agency, Laila McLatchie’s mom, Laura McLatchie, said her daughter was born with the growth, which is located just below her eye on her right cheek.
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The growth, which protrudes from her face, has caused Laila to be subject to teasing and bullying, her mom said. Unkind words have reportedly come from other children and adults alike.
“People pass her in the street and point and laugh or ask questions and she really doesn’t like it,” McLatchie said. “She’s very conscious of it she doesn’t like anyone talking about it or touching it.”
Four-year-old Laila McLatchie hopes to have the growth removed.
(SWNS)
“People point and laugh at her saying she’s ugly; it’s really bothering her. She feels she needs to explain what it is to everyone because no one wants to play with her,” the parent continued, adding other children reportedly call the marking a “lump.”
The 33-year-old told SWNS her daughter was initially slated to have the growth removed by the time she was 4 and a half years old but was recently told by the National Health Service (NHS) she will need to wait at least two more years because of a lack of pediatric cosmetic surgeons.
McLatchie has the option to take her daughter to a private surgeon, but at a cost: She claims the procedure to remove the hemangioma would cost about $3,800.
Laila’s mom says she’s bullied over the growth.
(SWNS)
“As a mother, I cannot let her go through this for another two years, especially when it can be taken away,” she said.
A hemangioma of the skin, according to Healthline, is “an abnormal buildup of blood vessels on or under the surface of the skin.” The growths may be strawberry-colored and can appear on the face, neck, or midsection of the body.
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“Hemangiomas look painful, but they don’t typically cause any discomfort. After a brief period of rapid growth, they often shrink on their own without treatment,” Healthline states. “They’re noncancerous and complications are very rare.”
A deeper growth typically has a darker color than those on the surface of the skin.
