Surgery
Surgery is the main type of treatment for craniosynostosis. It is usually recommended that surgery is carried out in the first 12 months following birth.
There are currently four NHS hospitals that have specialist surgical units and teams with experience and expertise in carrying out this type of surgery. They are:
- John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford
- Great Ormond Street Hospital in London
- Birmingham Children’s Hospital
- Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool
Surgery for craniosynostosis is usually carried out by a team of two surgeons who each have their own speciality. These are:
- a neurosurgeon – a specialist in the nervous system and brain
- a craniofacial surgeon – a specialist in surgery of the face, head and jaws
The procedure
Surgery for craniosynostosis is carried out under a general anaesthetic, which means that your child will be asleep during the procedure and will not feel any pain.
The neurosurgeon will make an incision (cut) across the top of your child’s scalp. This will leave a scar but it will be hidden by their hair. The neurosurgeon will remove the affected areas of skull.
The removed pieces of bone will be reshaped by the craniofacial surgeon before being returned to a normal position in the skull. The incision will then be sealed using dissolvable stitches.
After the operation
Surgery for craniosynostosis is not dangerous, although extra precautions always have to be taken in cases where surgery involves very young children.
Therefore, after the operation it is likely that your child will be transferred to an intensive care unit (ICU) for one or two days so that their condition can be carefully monitored. Most children are well enough to leave hospital around five days after surgery.
Following surgery, most children will only experience mild pain but it is common for them to develop significant swelling around their eyes. The swelling can often prevent them from opening their eyes. Your child may find this annoying or distressing, but the swelling does not present a health risk and it should subside after a few days.
After having surgery for craniosynostosis, it is likely that your child will be asked to attend regular check-ups so that the future development of their skull can be monitored. The check-ups will be quite frequent at first, such as every six weeks, before becoming less frequent as your child gets older. Most children will only require an annual check-up once they reach the age of six.
