Cherry angioma

Cherry angiomas, or cherry hemangiomas, are cherry red papules on the skin containing an abnormal proliferation of blood vessels. They are the most common kind of angioma. They are also called senile angiomas or Campbell de Morgan spots, after the nineteenth-century British surgeon Campbell De Morgan who first noted and described them. The frequency of cherry angiomas increases with age.

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Characteristics

Cherry angiomas are made up of clusters of tiny capillaries at the surface of the skin, forming a small round dome ("papule"), which may be flat topped. They range in color from bright red to purple. When they first develop, they may be only a tenth of a millimeter in diameter and almost flat, but they usually grow to about one or two millimeters across, and sometimes to a centimeter or more in diameter. As they grow larger, they tend to expand in thickness, and may take on the raised and rounded shape of a dome. Multiple adjoining angiomas are said to form a polypoid angioma. Because the blood vessels comprising an angioma are so close to the skin's surface, cherry angiomas may bleed profusely if they are injured.

Cause

Cherry angiomas appear spontaneously in many people in middle age. They have no known cause in most cases. Very rarely, cherry angiomas may be caused by the presence of an internal malignancy. They can also be caused by exposure to mustard gas or 2-butoxyethanol.

Treatment

On the rare occasions that they require removal, traditionally cryosurgery or electrosurgery have been used.^[1] More recently pulsed dye laser treatment has also been used.^[2][3]

Prognosis

In most patients, the number and size of cherry angiomas increases with advancing age. They are harmless, except in very rare cases that involve a sudden appearance of many angiomas, which can be a sign of a developing internal malignancy.

Epidemiology

Cherry angiomas occur in all races, all ethnic backgrounds, and both sexes.