Can I Reduce My Elongated Skull?

Q: Dr. Eppley, Im interested in finding a way to reduce my skull and came across your site. I have a very large, elongated cranium that has bothered me my whole life. It has a circumference of 64,5 cm. Since I guess its not possible to change or replace parts of the cranium itself, maybe the burring approach could help reducing the circumference and the overall appearance. See attached images (I have a full CT scan). In my case I would like to reduce both the back of the head and the front to “shrink” the elongated look and maybe get some headwear to fit. Questions: What is the estimate cost for a procendure like this? I am living in Norway so its a long way. Are there any partners in Europe that offers the same type of surgery? How long do I have to stay away from work?

A:You are correct in that burring reduction is the only approach in an adult to reduce an elongated skull. As a general rule half of the skull’s thickness can be reduced by burring. If we move beyond whether the scar to access these to do the surgery is a potential issue, the question then becomes whether that amount of skull length reduction is worthy of the effort. Ultimately the best way to answer that question is by taking a side view picture and doing some computer imaging of the potential change.

I am not aware of any other surgeons in the world that do this type of surgery although there may be.

I don’t know what type of work you do but it should be no more than 10 days at most.

Dr. Barry Eppley

World-Renowned Plastic Surgeon