Symmetrical naevus flammeusQ82.5

Mostly congenital, harmless, merely cosmetically disturbing, capillary hamartoma without any tendency to vascular proliferation as observed in asymmetric vascular hamartomas. Fissural vascular hamartomas have no known syndromic associations with other organ malformations.

Fissural vascular hamartomas occur in up to 40-50% of newborns. Turkoglu Z et al. (2010) observed vascular fissural

Hamartomas in the frontal region over 3 generations.

It is probably a circumscribed maturation delay of sympathetic vascular innervation and not a vascular malformation, such as is present in asymmetric nevus flammeus.

Symmetrical vascular hamartomas of the skin are mainly localized in the area of the embryonic closure ridges (fissural vascular hamartomas), e.g. on the neck (stork bite), middle of the forehead or glabella (angel kiss or salmon spot), on upper eyelids and nostrils.

Light red or dull red, 0.5-10.0 cm in size, bizarrely circumscribed, inhomogeneous spots.

Particularly designated are:

• the Unna-Politzer neck nevus
• and
• the salmon spot of the middle of the forehead (stork bite).

The Unna-Politzer neck nevus often does not regress - in contrast to the salmon spot of the middle of the forehead, which is usually regressible.

Therapy is not necessary for medical reasons. The skin changes are usually cosmetically little disturbing. In any case, 1/2 year should be waited because of the spontaneous tendency to regression.

In case of cosmetic therapy indication: see below. Nevus flammeus.

Favorable, no progression, tendency to regress during infancy. They are therefore called ′′fading macular stains'.

No tubero-nodal transformation as in the so-called nevus flammeus lat.

1. Csoma Z et al. (2014) Birth marks and neonatal skin disorders. From angel kiss to epidermolysis bullosa]. Orv Hetil 155:500-508

2. Turkoglu Z et al (2010) Angel's kiss in three generations. Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol 76:592.