We viewed with interest the Photo Essay "Giant Cavernous Hemangioma of the Face."1 Although the clinical history was limited, this lesion should probably be classified as a mature nevus flammeus with massive soft-tissue hypertrophy. Coincidental glaucoma is commonly seen with nevus flammeus in the distribution of the first and second branches of the trigeminal nerve.2 The authors accurately cited a definition of cavernous hemangioma by Cooper.3 However, the nomenclature commonly used to discuss vascular birthmarks has been a major obstacle to our understanding and management of the broad classification of lesions.4(chap2) The term hemangioma has been variously applied to describe a wide variety of congenital and acquired vascular anomalies. Fortunately, a growing body of literature has helped to clarify the diverse characteristics of these lesions.
A nevus flammeus or port-wine stain is one of the most common vascular malformations, occurring in 0.3% of newborns.4(chap10) Glaucoma,