What are cherry angiomas?

Also known as: Campbell de Morgan spots, senile angiomas.

A cherry angioma can be a small dot to quite large, fairly common, benign, or non-cancerous bright cherry red or purple, smooth, or raised area, usually featuring a bump or dome shaped clusters of tiny blood vessels on the skin. They tend to occur in older people over 30 years of age, but do occur in children.

A cherry angioma looks similar to a cherry hemangioma, but they are made up of different types of cells. While angiomas can be comprised of blood vessels or lymphatic vessels, hemangiomas are made up of only blood vessels. Hemangiomas are also more common in childhood or infancy, whereas angiomas more commonly occur in adults.

In either case, cherry angiomas and hemangiomas aren’t harmful. Though they make look frightening, they are benign and not a sign of cancer.

However, considering their appearance and the fact that similar skin lesions may be cancerous, it’s certainly worth a visit with a health care provider to get it checked out. You can also talk to your provider if a cherry angioma is bleeding frequently, or simply if it bothers you and you want to do something about it.
 

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Reviewed by: Jack Wolfsdorf, MD, FAAP

This page was last updated on: 1/29/2019 3:21:13 PM