Port Wine Nevus


A common congenital neurovascular malformation, appearing as deep red-purple macular lesions, corresponding to cutaneous angioma(s), often located in the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve; when located on the meninges, port-wine nevi may be confined to the occipitoparietal pial vessels, where sluggish blood flow predisposes to hypoxia of underlying cortex; port-wine nevi may occur in the normal population—e.g., Mikhail Gorbachev—or be part of various syndromes—e.g., Klippel-Trenaunay, Beckwith-Wiedemann, Cobb, Rubenstein-Taybi, trisomy 13 syndromes
Management Flashlamp-pulsed tunable argon dye laser, most effective if administered < age 7. More treatment may be required for facial lesions