Overview
Pyogenic granuloma may be a common, benign growth that always appears as a rapidly growing, bleeding bump on the skin or inside the mouth. It is composed of blood vessels and should occur at the location of minor injury.
When a pyogenic granuloma occurs during a pregnant woman, it's sometimes called a "pregnancy tumor" (granuloma gravidarum). Pyogenic granulomas develop in up to five of pregnant women.
Who's at risk?
Pyogenic granulomas occur in people of all races. Women are more frequently suffering from pyogenic granulomas than men, though male and feminine children are equally affected.
Pyogenic granulomas are most often seen in:
Ø Children and young adults
Ø Pregnant women
Ø Women taking oral contraceptives
Ø People taking certain oral retinoid medications, including isotretinoin or acitretin (Soriatane®)
Ø People taking protease inhibitors such as indinavir (Crixivan®)
Ø People on chemotherapy
Signs and Symptoms
The most common locations for pyogenic granulomas include:
Ø Lips, gums, and inner mouth (particularly in pregnant women)
Ø Hands and fingers
Ø Head and neck
Ø Feet and toes
Ø Upper trunk
Typically, pyogenic granulomas appear as a beefy, red bump that enlarges rapidly over a couple of weeks. On average, pyogenic granulomas are about 5–10 mm in diameter. They may bleed easily and, in some cases, are often tender. Very rarely, quite one lesion of pyogenic granuloma may develop at an equivalent time at an equivalent site.
Self-Care Guidelines
See your doctor if you notice any rapidly enlarging skin growth so as to determine an accurate diagnosis. Because it's susceptible to easy bleeding, a pyogenic granuloma lesion should be covered with a bandage until you see your doctor.
When to Seek Medical Care
Make a meeting with a dermatologist or another physician if any rapidly enlarging or bleeding growth develops on your skin or within the areas lining your nose or mouth (mucous membranes).
Treatments Your Physician May Prescribe
If the diagnosis of pyogenic granuloma is suspected, your doctor will probably want to perform a skin biopsy. The procedure involves:
Ø Numbing the skin with an injectable anesthetic.
Ø Sampling a small piece of skin by using a flexible razor blade, a scalpel, or a tiny cookie cutter (called a "punch biopsy"). If a punch biopsy is taken, a stitch (suture) or two could also be placed and can got to be removed 6–14 days later.
Ø Having the skin sample examined under the microscope by a specially trained physician (dermatopathologist).
Pyogenic granulomas that develop in pregnant women often resolve after delivery. Similarly, pyogenic granulomas related to medications usually improve when the drugs is discontinued or the dosage is lowered. Depending on the dimensions of the pyogenic granuloma and its location and symptoms, the doctor may decide that no treatment is important for pregnant women or for people that can safely stop or lower the dose of the medication that caused the lesion.
Although pyogenic granuloma may be a benign condition, it's frequently removed thanks to its tendency to bleed, its tenderness, and its distressing appearance. However, untreated pyogenic granulomas may get away on their own.
In obvious cases of pyogenic granuloma, your physician may prefer to treat it immediately after obtaining the biopsy. Such treatments include:
Ø Scraping and burning (curettage and cauterization). After numbing with local anaesthetic , the world is scraped with a pointy instrument (a curette) and burned with an electrical needle (cautery).
Ø Silver nitrate solution
Ø Topical imiquimod cream (Aldara®)
Ø Laser treatment
Ø Freezing with liquid nitrogen (cryotherapy)
Ø Surgical removal (excision)
Approximately 40% of pyogenic granulomas come (recur) after treatment, especially those lesions located on the trunk of teenagers and young adults. Recurrent pyogenic granulomas are best treated by surgical excision.
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