She sat on Daddy’s lap and we watched Cars and played while we waited for her turn in the operating room. The nurse gave her some medicine to calm her and make her drowsy so she wouldn’t get upset when they took her from us. It was pretty amusing watching her try to play after that medicine kicked in!
The OR nurse came to get her in an office chair. She sat Hannah on her lap and scooted into the operating room. Once in there, Hannah got gas to make her sleep. Then they put in her IV for her general anesthesia. The actual surgery only took about 45 minutes.
We were able to sit by her in recovery and wait for her to wake up. The first words out of her mouth were, “Take it off!” (talking about the IV in her ankle and the blood pressure cuff on her other leg). My bossy little girl! 😉 She wanted Mommy after the surgery…and she wanted my cup of water, even though she had a sippy cup of juice. I drank most of my water so there wasn’t much left in case she spilled it and let her have the cup. Well, that wasn’t good enough. She looked at me and dumped the water right on the floor! We apologized profusely to the nurse for the mess.
Hannah slept almost the whole way home (about 45 minutes). She ate everything in sight at lunch and took a long nap in the afternoon. By Saturday morning she was back to normal.
Hannah has about 20 stitches, plus more sutures deeper in the tissue. They’re all disolvable, so she won’t need them removed. Thank you to everyone who prayed for us!
Hannah’s incision
If you want to see the “before” pictures go to https://redropefarm.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/hannahs-visit-to-the-plastic-surgeon/.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Update:
It’s now been 7.5 years since Hannah’s surgery, and I continue to meet people who are dealing with this type of surgery with their own children. I want to share a photo of what Hannah’s scar looks like now.
Hannah doesn’t remember having surgery and has no issues with the area around her scar. The doctors did send her birthmark and some cells around it to be biopsied right after surgery and everything came back completely normal.
Red Rope Farm 
i’m so glad to hear that hannah did so well 🙂
I appreciate you for sharing your experience for others to find. My 6yr old has a nevus sebaceous probably 1.5in further back than your daughter, it’s perhaps nickel size. It wasn’t found by hospital staff because she had so much hair, but I noticed it when checking over my newborn and in awe of all her hair… and the staff was surprised they missed it. Our original pediatrician wasn’t too concerned with it. We moved and our new dr recommended seeing a dermatologist. So she was around 2yrs old when the derm mentioned the precautionary measure of removing since these often change when puberty comes on – so we would avoid a precancerous situation. He said it’s best while they’re young so their scalp skin is still pliable. I was actually shocked when he told us to have it tended to by a plastic surgeon. So now that she’s 6yrs old I finally got around to finding one that is under our insurance and specializes in pediatric. I’m excited that our consultation is in a couple of weeks. I’m sure you can relate to all this! But thank you so much for sharing. IF I show pictures to my daughter, I think yours would help. My daughter can’t stand having blood drawn or injections, so I bet she would react just like yours did. Thanks again! -Naomi
Thank you, Naomi! I hope all goes well with your daughter’s surgery. I’m sure the doctors and nurses will all put her (and you) at ease. – Kim
Do you happen to have any more pictures you can post of it since healing? I (oops) just showed my daughter the “before” pics and then accidentally the “right after” (stitiches… oops!). Her consult is tomorrow 🙂
Hi Naomi, I just took a picture and updated this post. I hope that helps your daughter. Please let us know how things go!
Thank you SO much! Your surgeon did incredible work. I bet it doesn’t crosses anyone’s mind, to think something had been done there at all. I look forward to showing her in the morning. Thanks for being able to post that pic so quick!
No problem! Thank you…. you’re right, no one really notices the scar. I hope it helps!
Hi just came across your blog while searching birth marks. my 4 month old has the same birth mark as your daughter but on her face. Just wondering if you could tell me more about the surgery etc thankyou
Hi Naomi, the surgery was pretty quick. They took the birthmark and a little surrounding tissue. They do routine biopsies for this type of birthmark. A plastic surgeon did the surgery and the scar is not very noticeable at all.
Thank you so much for posting your daughters surgery. Our daughter has the same type of birthmark on her scalp. No hair grows on it at all so it is getting very noticeable. Please could you let me know how old your daughter was when she had the procedure? How long did the scar take to heal? Thank you so much for any advice in advance.
Hi Danielle, Hannah was 2 when she had her surgery and the incision healed well. She does have a scar still, but it’s behind her ear so it’s not noticeable – plus her hair usually covers it too. It has faded over the years so you probably wouldn’t notice it if you didn’t know it was there.
Thank you so much for responding to me so quickly. Our little girl turns 2 next month and we are meeting with the consultant in 3 weeks time.
It is so reassuring to see your daughters pictures post surgery. Sorry for all the questions. How long did the scar take to heal properly? Did your daughter struggle with the wound at all after surgery? Any advice is greatly received as this type of birth mark is so rare, not a lot of information out there.
Hi Danielle, the scar healed in the time period the doctors estimated. Since it’s behind her ear, she didn’t really notice it much to mess with it.
Hi, my son was just diagnosed with this at birth a few days ago. Our pediatrician made it sound like not a big deal and to just follow with dermatology, however there is so scary info on the internet regarding developmental delays, seizures, etc. associated with Nevus sebaceous. Really just wondering if your daughter displays any of these symptoms as well? Thank you!!
Hi Ann, I’ve never actually heard of those issues being associated with a nevus sebaceous. All our doctors were concerned about was the cells changing after puberty. My research is from 12-13 years ago, so I don’t know what has been discovered since then. We have not dealt with any of the issues you mentioned though. – Kim
Loved reaading this thank you