Category: OR snapshots | skull reshaping

OR Snapshots – Head Widening Temporal Implants

The width of the head is determined by how wide it is above the ears. This is known as the temporal region and consists of a very uniquely shaped temporal bone and varying thicknesses of the temporals muscle over it. By the eye the temporal bone is very concave and the temporalis muscle is correspondingly Read More…

Plastic Surgery Case Study – Custom Skull Implant for Improved Back of Head Contour

Background: Augmenting skull or head shape deficiencies used to be fairly impractical. The traditional method of cranioplasty surgery involved long scalp incisions and the tedious application of bone cements to add shape to the head. Besides the scar there was a very high rate of contour irregularities and a lack of adequate augmentation effect. This Read More…

Technical Strategies – The Placement of Perfusion Holes in Custom Skull Implants

Custom skull implants have become in my practice an effective and low risk strategy for many aesthetic skull shape concerns. Compared to any other implant used above the shoulders, skull implants are comparatively large which is appropriate given the size of the skull. But a small implant just isn’t going to work for many head Read More…

Plastic Surgery Case Study – A Standard Preformed Skull Implant for Female Crown Augmentation

Background: While skull surgery has been around for more than a century, such surgeries have been done for reconstructive reasons to replace missing portions or correct significant congenital skull shape deformities. Aesthetic skull surgery, however, is much more recent and consists of reducing prominent bony areas or improving its shape through augmentation materials. The use Read More…

Techniques in Skull Reduction

The size of one’s head is most significantly influenced by the shape of the skull. While there are soft tissues that also envelope it, its size is a reflection of its overall dimensions and convexity. As a result, major reductions (1 cm or greater) in skull size or specific bony areas is not possible without Read More…

Plastic Surgery Case Study – Hydroxyapatite Reconstruction of Large Pediatric Skull Defects

Background: The correction of congenital skull deformities with early cranial vault reconstruction is a well established surgical therapy. Such early skull manipulations are based on two fundamental principles of the infant’s skull. First, the bone is thin and can fairly easily be removed, reshaped and re-inserted. Secondly, the osteogenic regenerative power of the dura at Read More…

The Value of Flexibility in Custom Skull Implants

The use of custom skull implants has revolutionized the treatment of many aesthetic skull deformities. Being able to precisely locate the defect and design an implant from the patient’s 3D CT scan that can augment it provides an unparalleled accuracy in improving head shape contours. This is particularly effective in skull asymmetries or augmenting skull Read More…

OR Snapshots – The Customizable Custom Skull Implant

Custom made skull implants are the best way to perform almost any type of skull augmentation. Covering potentially large surface areas of the skull in a smooth manner is very difficult when attempted by traditional bone cement materials. The computer designing process does what no surgeon can do as well with the naked eyes and Read More…

The Peaked Square-Shaped Custom Skull Implant Design

Custom skull implants make it possible to effect many different types of aesthetic head shape changes that were not possible just a decade ago. Fabricating the implant from the patient’s 3D CT scan, the only restrictions to its design and size is the limits of how much the scalp can stretch to accommodate it. Placed Read More…

Plastic Surgery Case Study – Hydroxyapatite Granule Skull Reconstruction for Traumatic Partial-Thickness Skull Defect

Background: The skull, while often perceived as a solid piece of bone, is not. It is actually composed of three layers, very much like an Oreo cookie. There are the outer and inner solid cortical layers (the cookie) and then there is a thinner inner layer which is softer known as the diploid or marrow Read More…