cosmetics

[infinity]

question, the dr we went to yesterday said that if we were to go ahead with the surgery to correct the sagittal cran. it would be for cosmetic reasons ONLY. whoever out there could reply, could you tell me if that is the reason your child went thru with the surgery? i am just lost in a bowel of soup right now to consider having someone take a part of my son's scull out just to make him look better, when he doesnt even look that bad in the first place. all of the photos i see with sagittal cran. are taken from the top of the head, and that is not how you naturally look at a person, obviously. once the hair grows in and you look at the child from the side or face front, does it really look that bad? bc i cant find any photos of a child who didnt have it done. i see many before and after pictures, but not any of those who decided not to go ahead with the surgery. any input would be appreciated, thanks.

[Rhonda O]

We made the decision because we were told that, although the chances are very slim with sagittal, there is a slim chance that Zachary would end up with pressure on the brain. We decided that even a slim chance would be too great a risk for us.

[Jennifer]

Wow! That doc made it a bit harder on you. I guess if it were me, I'd have to ask more questions....is the elongation going to become more noticible? More important, is there a chance this could cause any pressure on the brain? Will this affect anything else if not corrected? (W/ coronal, it can affect the eyes, ears and teeth over time- I'm sure there's more)
Your the mom and you know best. If the doctors say that surgery is NOT necessary and you don't feel at this time that it's necessary, then don't rush into it......I'd just continue doing all sorts of research to get all the possibilities...... :hugg

[Connor's Dad]

Our son was diagnosed almost a month ago and as he grows we are seeing increasing elongation of head, forehead bossing, and bumps on his head (formed knots from bones fusing too fast). There is the cosmetic effect, the psychological effect on child during developmental years, and the possibility of pressure on the brain. From what I have read (LOTS) they really do not know about pressure, amount, effect, ect... seems each case is different, but it is simply not a gamble we are willing to take. That being said I would say our decision is not cosmetic at all.

[Lauren]

No doctor is going to perform truly "cosmetic" surgery just because they can. If it was truly just for cosmetic reasons the insurance companies wouldn't pay for it. While sagittal is the least likely to cause problems medically, we were told that not treating it could lead to social issues down the line. They have to call it cosmetic because the brain will continue to grow regardless of the fused suture. In our situation, Matthew's suture didn't fuse until he was about 7 months old (later than usual for sagittal babies) and you can see in his before and after pics that his head was very pointy before surgery. Until about 6 months, we were told repeatedly how round his head was. My point is that even if you don't see that his head is shaped too badly now, it can change quickly. I think that the reason that you don't see pictures of kids who didn't have surgery is because there aren't many out there. Matthew had surgery 5 years ago and I have only heard of one or two people that opted not to do the surgery.

[Danandtricial]

we were told that with age it will be more pronounced in other words it will continue to get worse as your child ages. we were also told that we took a lerger risk getting into the car to see the ns than the risk of the surgery so we had it done. I agree with connorsdad there is a slim chance of intercrainal pressure. At the end of the day even if it was "just cosmetic" Would have had it done any way. If you think about the long term teasing and ridicule by other children and if you think that will stop in adult life your fooling yourself the difference between kids and adults is the kids will atleast make fun of you to your face.

[infinity]

to danandtrical -

thanks for the opinion. don't worry, i know all about teasing and such, i had plenty of it since i am hearing impaired and wearing hearing aids. but like i said, i wasnt sure of the extend of the disformity, bc he doesnt look that bad now. but after all the opinions of others and the discussions i have had with people over the past two days, i think we are going to go ahead with it, especially with the possibility with pressure on the brain occuring later on in life - that i wasnt told to us either. it just freaked my husband and myself out with the thought of having someone take a piece of my son's scull out just to prevent others from teasing him - i would never do anything surgically unecessary just to make other people accept myself or members of my family. but now that i am understanding cranio more, i see a lot more to it than what i originally thought it involved. thanks again.