Skull Reshaping

Q: Dr. Eppley, I been looking Into skull reshaping procedure for years now, and your website has been very helpful. But I need the back of my skull shaved down but I can’t find no information on numbness? So do this area come with numbness and if so long long can it last?

A: Every time a scalp flap is raised to perform any skull reshaping procedure, whether it be augmentation or reduction, there will be some numbness that will occur over the raised scalp flap areas. Most of this numbness is temporary and is self-resolving over time. I have yet to have a patient tell me that they have any bothersome numbness on the back of their head after any occipital skull reshaping or reduction procedure.

On the back of the head coming up from the sides at the base of the skull are the greater occipital nerves. They supply a lot of the feeling across the back of the head as well as coming further forward along the scalp. These nerves run above the bone in the soft tissues of the scalp. Any type of skull reshaping procedures raises the entire scalp off of the bone, thus the nerves are protected from being injured or cut which would be a cause of permanent numbness.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana