A mother has revealed how her newborn was 'diagnosed' with a tumour that could have caused her to go blind via a stranger on Facebook.
Amanda Dobbins first noticed her daughter Sophia had a tiny blemish on the tip of her nose when she was just a few days old.
Reassured by medics it was just a birthmark, the 31-year-old became concerned when the red spot started to grow.
Within days, the blemish left Sophia looking like 'she'd had a bucket of blood tipped over her head' and was even covering her eye.
Desperate, Mrs Dobbins, of Cardiff, posted a picture of her daughter on a parent support group, where a stranger urged her to have Sophia tested for haemangioma.
Medics later diagnosed the newborn with the tumour, which causes a collection of small blood vessels to develop beneath the skin and can lead to blindness if an eye is affected.
After a year of treatment, Sophia's blemish is almost gone, with her being a happy, healthy 14-month-old.
Newborn Sophia's 'birthmark' (pictured) was 'diagnosed' as haemangioma tumour after her mother Amanda Dobbins posted a picture to a new parents support group on Facebook
Sophia was later officially diagnosed and began a year of treatment at Great Ormond Street Children's hospital. She is pictured recently, with her blemish visibly reduced
Sophia's mother and father Neil Dobbins (pictured together during the newborn's treatment) 'dread to think' what could have happened if they had trusted medics it was just a birthmark
Speaking of her daughter's condition, Mrs Dobbins, a pharmacy technician, said: 'It would have done some major damage.
'Because of how quickly it developed and how quickly it grew if we hadn't have gotten her on a treatment, when we did, she would possibly have damaged the sight in her right eye completely.
'I think we were very lucky. I dread to think what it could have cause if we had just listen to what the doctors had said.'
Mrs Dobbins and her husband Neil first noticed a tiny mark on Sophia's nose when she was three-to-four days old.
'First the doctors said it was a stork bite because it was really light pink before we left the hospital it got a bit darker so they said it's a port wine stain and that's where they left it,' she said.
The new parents became increasingly concerned when the mark became bigger and redder.
'It went from very pale pink to looking like someone poured a pot of blood over her head, it was really swollen, it would bleed,' Mrs Dobbins said.
The blemish was even covering one of Sophia's eyelids, making it difficult for her to open that eye.
Pictured left as a newborn, Sophia had just a tiny scratch on the tip of her nose. Over the next two weeks the blemish grew and became redder (see right)
Sophia is pictured while on propranolol, which narrowed her blood vessels and prevented blood flowing through her haemangioma. Right is the concerned message her mother posted
The new parents
