Can New Bone Cement Be Placed On Top Of Old Bone Cement In Skull Reshaping Surgery?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I had skull reshaping with bone cement last year in South Korea as my back of head was pretty flat. Since then I wasnt told that much information and may have put pressure on the left side of the back of my head, and now the left side is flat. can you fix this and is it safe to re apply more bone cement on top? 

A: Since skull reshaping bone cement is permanent and does not move or degrade, the appearance of flatness on one side of the back of your head has nothing to do with what you did. (put pressure on it) This flatness has likely reappeared because all of the swelling has finally gone done and the complete result of the skull augmentation procedure is not evident. In other words, the application of the bone cement was likely not symmetric. When correcting a total flattening of the back of the head, the hardest thing to do surgically is to get both sides even. (symmetry) This is not a rare postoperative problem.

The good news is that this is a very correctable skull problem through the application of more bone cement on the flatter side. There is no problem with placing new bone cement on top of older or pre-existing bone cement in skull reshaping surgery.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana