How Successful Is Skull Reduction Surgery?

Q: Dr. Eppley, How successful are skull reduction procedures? How many have you done and what have you learned by doing them?

A: Skull reduction refers to different reductive procedures of the cranium. These can be smaller isolated problems like lumps, bumps and the occipital knob, which are usually like osteoma growths. It can also included reduction of prominent sagittal ridges and other high spots due to mild disturbances in sutural and fontanelle closure.Occasionally overall skull reduction can be done but there are limits based on bone thickness as to how substantative that type of skull changye can be. Having performed over fifty specific skull reductions of various types, I would say that they have all been successful. This is not to say that there have not been some revisions of these skull reductions to make further improvements such as smoothness and more aggressive reduction effort. But the key in skull reduction surgery is patient selection and knowing what the limits of the procedures are. You can not just reduce any portion of the skull any amount one wants. Reductions can usually only be done as far down as through the outer cortical layer just into the diploic space.