Can I Get A Minimally Invasive Skull Reshaping Procedure For My Skull Dent?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am interested in a minor skull reshaping procedure. Can you fix the dent on the right side of my head with relatively minimal invasive surgery? Question 2: I have had the dent as long as I can remember, I’m 42 years young! Is there a formal name for my “condition”? I suspect what we are looking at here is in fact a dent. My only other theory is that my forehead maybe high on my right side thus giving the appearance of a dent toward the back right side? Thank you very much for your time.

A: You at an ideal candidate for a small skull reshaping operation. You do, in fact, have a high forehead dent or groove in the bone. It has no other formal name although it lies parallel or may be over the original coronal skull suture. Thus it may be a malformation of the coronal suture where the two edges of bone come together to fuse. Regardless of its etiology, it can be treated by a minimally invasive cranioplasty procedure. By making a very small scalp incision (less than 1 cm.) the tissues over and around the dent can be elevated. Then through a small tube, a bone cement material can be injected and then smoothed out from the outside as it sets. This could be done under local/IV sedation with really no recovery other than a small amount of swelling. The ‘trick’ to this procedure is to not overfill it and get the entire area smooth and flat. You don’t want to trade off a ridge for a dent.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana