What Can Be Done For A Flat Back Of The Head?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am very interested in skull reshaping surgery. Since I was young I always thought my head shape was oddly shaped making it unpleasant to cut my hair short, wear hats, or even have different hairstyles. I would like to know how long you have been doing this surgery because a surgery like this can go very right or very wrong unless someone is very experienced in doing it. I know that the same surgery is also done in Korea but I would rather not go so far. I always hoped that a surgery would be able to fix my head shape, I just never knew that there were surgeons out there who could do it. My head is flat in the back and is not even symmetrically flat as one side (the left) is more flat than the other. Please tell me what you think can be done.

A: There are many options in skull reshaping surgery. I would need to see some pictures of your head shape to determine what needs to be done exactly. But by your description it sounds like a case of a flat back of the head (occipital brachcephaly) with some asymmetry to it. Thus the surgical treatment would be augmentative as an onlay cranioplasty approach, probably using PMMA as the material as the volume addition would be at least 60 grams maybe more.

I have done many such skull reshaping surgeries, and many other variations of it, for over 10 years based on a lot of craniofacial plastic surgery and biomaterials experience previously.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana