Occipital Skull Augmentation

Q: Dr. Eppley, I had occipital skull augmentation craniofacial surgery two years ago for the back of my head. However, i noticed after healing that the lower portion of my head is still very flat. The surgeon had only augmented the upper portion of my skull with bone cement. I am wondering if anything can be done about the bottom area, making my head appear more round. I always tie my hair back to make the middle/lower portion appear less flat. Thanks for your time.

A: Not knowing exactly where the full extent of the bone cement was placed I can not answer your question with certainty. While it is most likely that only the upper half of the occiput was augmented (because this is the easiest area to augment on the back of the head), it is also important to realize that the bottom end of the occipital bone is much higher than most people think. It is usually at the horizontal level of the upper ear. The best way to really answer the question if more occipital skull augmentation can be done lower to make the back of the head rounder is to get a 3D CT scan of your skull and see exactly where the bone cement is and what its shape is at its lower extent. Unless your surgery was done with you in the prone position (face down) during surgery, then the entire bottom half was probably not augmented. and you have a surgical augmentation that probably looks like the Bumpit hair volumizer device. That may work when placed on top of the scalp but does not have the same effect when placed on the bone.

Dr. Eppley