Haemangiomas

Exophytic, benign, vascular lesion (neoformation), resulting from the proliferation of the vascular endothelium (haemangioma) or the epithelium of lymphatic vessels (lymphangioma). It can present at birth or during the first months of life as a congenital variant and/or oral manifestation of systemic disease (e.g. Sturge-Weber syndrome, Maffucci’s syndrome and Dandy-Walker syndrome); it spontaneously disappears as the patient ages in the majority of cases. If the lesion is not congenital, it can appear following a trauma or an unknown cause.
Clinically, angioma is red-bluish or mauvish, with a velvety and fluctuating texture and a broad, sessile base. It generally presents with dimensions of about 1cm in diameter. Haemangioma is the most common intraoral variant of angioma, occurring on the upper side of the tongue, the buccal and labial mucosa. Histologically, a capillary variant can be differentiated by its vascular contents from a cavernous haemangioma. Lymphangiomas rarely occur in the oral cavity, being localised more frequently on the upper side of the tongue.
In order to distinguish angioma from other neoformations, it is useful to apply acupressure (disacopy), which when vascular causes ischaemia and the disappearance of the red-mauvish colour. Benign in nature, angioma does not generally necessitate treatment when limited in dimensions. However, its removal may be requested by the patient for aesthetic reasons or by a doctor where there is chronic trauma with blood loss risk.