Will Building Up The Flat Back Of My Head Relieve Pain?

Q: Dr. Eppley,  I am 26 years old and have a really flat area at the back of my head. I am very self-conscious about this since I was 18.I want to kill myself to get rid of this pain. You would be my last hope. Please let me know if there is any way that I can fix this for a cosmetic purpose. Can something be implanted at the back of my head? I have attached a picture with my hair wet so you can see what is bothering me.

A: Having a flat back of the head is an aesthetic issue, not a problem that causes pain. While skull expansion can be done, I would nto expect it to emotional pain about the deformity but not actual physical pain. The key about building up the back of the head (occipital cranioplasty) is knowing the exact location where you want the skull expanded and a realistic assessment of how much expansion can be achieved. The limiting factor in skull expansion is always how much stretching of the scalp skin can be done. To some degree that is partially controlled by how much of a scalp incision a patient is willing to allow to be done. I have done some initial estimation of a result (attached imaging) although I am not clear where you see the need for the exact location of the correction of the flat back of the head. This imaging is just an initiation for further discussion about what you want to achieve.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana