Can My Skull Defects Be Filled In By Injection?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I have a skull problem that bugs me and I would like it corrected. I have taken some pictures of my head so you can see. They are not the best but they show that my skull shape problem is that I have a bony growth and a deep groove on my crown area and the back of my head has several bumps and grooves!! I was wondering if you can use the bone cement kryptonite to fill in the grooves all over my head?? Please let me know as I really want to have this done. Thank you so much for your time.

A: I see that you have two distinct skull contour problems. The first is a deep groove on the top of your head along the course of the original coronal sutures on both sides. It runs identically along the suture line into the temporal regions. The second issue are the multiple irregularities, lumps and bumps, on the back of your head. There are two approached that can be used to improve these skull contour irregularities. The first approach is an open technique where the entire skull can be filled in and smoothed out. While this would produce the best result, the placement of a scalp scar makes it unacceptable for most male patients. The second approach, as you have mentioned, is an injectable technique using Kryptonite cranioplasty material. While this can certainly be done, an external ‘blind’ approach will help fill in many of these cranial depressions but it will be perfectly smooth. The trade-off of not having any significant scalp scar is that the skull contour can not be made perfectly smooth. You have to accept the concept of improvement but not perfection of your skull reshaping effort.

Dr.  Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana