LATHAM, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, December 1, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Vascular birthmarks, most commonly known as hemangiomas, are the most common birth defect of the skin in infants. People know them by their generic terms: strawberry, port wine stain, angel kiss, stork bite. Ninety percent of vascular birthmarks are benign and insignificant, however there are 40,000 babies born each year with vascular birthmarks that can become disfiguring, obstructive and life-threatening.

Dr. Linda Rozell-Shannon is the President and Founder of the Vascular Birthmarks Foundation. She is the world's leading lay expert in the field of vascular birthmarks.

“In medicine, if 90 percent of the time an illness resolves itself, the protocol is to ignore it. It's called the benign neglect philosophy,” says Dr. Linda. “But that ten percent, which does not resolve on its own is of critical importance to the parents of infants born with these lesions. The benign neglect philosophy should not apply to pediatricians and neonatologists, who are the first physicians to see these babies.”

Dr. Linda knows firsthand. Her daughter was born with a hemangioma on her lower lip the size of a golf ball. It interfered with her speech and her feeding, but the doctors insisted it would go away and needed no treatment.

“I couldn't believe that they could do a heart transplant, yet they didn't know how to take care of a benign tumor on a baby,” recalls Dr. Linda.

That’s when a chance encounter led her to Dr. Milton Waner of Arkansas Children's Hospital.

“He said, ‘I can have your daughter looking normal in a two-hour outpatient procedure,’” she recalls. “We flew down and he removed her hemangioma. In the recovery room, I looked at him and I said, "Dr. Waner, you're the one that's going to write the book with me. I'm starting a foundation and I'd like you to be the medical director."

That was 23 years ago. Today, Dr. Waner is an internationally recognized authority on the diagnosis and treatment of hemangiomas and vascular malformations. Their book, Birthmarks: A Guide to Hemangiomas & Vascular Malformations was published in 1997.

Since its inception, VBF has successfully networked thousands of children and adults into treatment, sponsored significant research, educated physicians and affected family members about the diagnosis and treatment of vascular birthmarks. In December of last year, VBF celebrated its 100,000th patient successfully networked into treatment.

“Doctors weren't educating each other concerning this subject,” says Dr. Linda. “I knew right from the beginning that VBF would become the educational foundation. Pediatricians and parents both need to be educated about treatment options.”

For parents, VBF is the first point of contact. VBF’s website lists 40 physicians who are experts on hemangiomas and vascular malformations and they are available to answer questions from all over the world. VBF’s website receives three million visits each month.

“All we are trying to do is raise awareness that all vascular birthmarks should not be ignored. The problem is that most pediatricians don't see enough hemangiomas to become experts. That’s why I have been working with the AAP to educate primary care doctors to refer these infants and that’s why we just launched the first ever on-line course in vascular anomalies” says Dr. Linda. “I hope and pray that I live to see the day that the foundation is no longer needed, because that would mean we have fulfilled our mission to get babies accurately diagnosed and treated early.”

CUTV News Radio will feature Dr. Linda Rozell-Shannon in an interview with Doug Llewelyn on December 5th at 3pm EST.

Listen to the show on BlogTalkRadio.

If you have a question for our guest, call (347) 996-3389.

For more information, visit http://www.birthmark.org.

Lou Ceparano
CUTV News
(631) 850-3314
email us here

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