In Temporal Skull Reduction Surgery Can Bone Be Removed As Well?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am a 28 year old male writing to you because of my aesthetic concerns about my wide head. I am interested in your skull reshaping surgery because I have a wide head and it has always bothered me psychologically and I have always wanted to reduce its width. 

My current head width from side to side is a little over 6 inches and I find my skull to be wider than almost everyone I encounter. I also work in construction and the fact that my hardhat needs to be set to almost the most loose setting makes me feel more conscious about my head size and makes me look more bulky. I get comments about how I look like an “overgrown baby” because my large head combined with relatively narrow shoulders creates a very neotenous look. 

I have read through your aesthetic skull reshaping content on your website and I know you explained that a good amount of temple width comes from muscle and not bone but what I wanted to know was if it was possible to actually reduce the bone width as well because I would like a significant reduction in skull width. For example, if we could reduce or take out the muscle width by 9mm on each side and then remove another 9 to 10mm of bone per side I believe that could be a significant change and very strong improvement for me. I know that removing the muscle alone will result in some degree of change but I really desire the maximum reduction in head width because my starting point is very wide. This is my biggest concern about my face and I know that you are more willing to make significant changes surgically to achieve stronger results so I hope you can facilitate this request. My current head width from temple to temple is a little over 6 inches and the more reduction I can achieve the better and this would really improve my confidence and I would really like a narrower head. I would really appreciate your time for a virtual consultation so that we can discuss how to plan this surgery. Thank you so much for your time and I look forward to hearing from you. 

A: To answer the question as to whether removing any temporal bone will add to the reduction benefits that the must provides, as well as makes the additional scar length on the side of the head worthwhile, a CT scan is needed to make that determination.

As a conjecture I would imagine that at least the reduction of the parietal bony eminences would be beneficial.

Dr. Barry Eppley

World Renowned Plastic Surgeon