Can The Top Of My Head Be Made Less Flat and Square?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am interested in skull reshaping and brow bone reduction surgery. I know you probably get these comments a lot, but I have always been very self conscious about my head shape and eyes. First my head is I guess a triangle oval shape but from a straight view it makes my head look very square and the top of my head is sort of flat. I absolutely hate it, it bothers me everyday. I wake up because even when I wear hats my head still looks square. I want the top of my head to look more smooth and oval shaped like a normal head but my head just looks fat. Also on top of that my eyes are really really puffy and close set which bothers me a lot also. I hate the boney parts at the end of my eyebrows. I feel they make the close set eyes look worse and how the bottom of my eyes are so pockety. This is destroying my self confidence day by day. I need to know if there is anything possible I can do so I will be happy in the end and not disappointing nor satisfied with a procedure. I have attached a couple pics for you to see my troubles. I love my hair but this head shape hurts my self-image. Also when I have short haircut it is embarrassing to me.

A: Based on your description of your concerns, it appears that a skull reshaping procedure with augmentation and lateral brow bone reduction is what is needed for improvement. Because you head is flat across the top, it can be built up between the two temporal lines to more of an oval shape by applying a bone cement material. There is a limit as to how thick it can be based on the scalp stretches but I would imagine that about 1 cm thickness in the very middle can be added. The tail of your brow bones (boney parts at the ends of the eyebrows) can also be reduced. All of this can be done through either a scalp incision or a smaller scalp incision combined wth upper eyelid incisions.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana