How Long Is Recovery After Sagittal Ridge Reduction Surgery?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I would like to enquire about skull reshaping. I’m a 38 year old male and I remember from when I was a teenager that my skull changed shape on top. I developed a ridge at the top near the crown. It looks similar to the person on your website who you treated to reduce the height of the sagittal ridge/crest. I started losing my hair from around 18 so it became difficult to conceal this area. In desperation I had hair transplants, but they were placed in the front part of my scalp and the area with the ridge was untreated (it was the strategy in those days of using plug-grafts to place grafts in the front, in a horse-shoe shape and use scalp reduction to deal with hair loss in the crown – thankfully I didn’t have scalp reduction). So I am left with this prominent sagittal ridge. I am done with the hair transplants and just want to shave my head or have very short hair. The grafts are very irregular in their placement. I would like to know about how long  recovery in days is needed before returning home. Thank you.

A: Sagittal ridge skull reduction is a very straightforward skull reshaping procedure that uses a burring technique to reduce the height of the ridge. How far down the ridge can be reduced is dependent on the thickness of the ridge bone. It is done through a small incision at the back end if the sagittal ridge. Recovery for this procedure is very quick and many patients return home the day following the procedure…at most by the second day after the surgery. Even though there is a little swelling, it is not significant enough that anyone would know that you just had surgery. One can return to any and all physical activities as soon as one feels able.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana