Guest guest Posted August 18, 2001 Report Share Posted August 18, 2001 Hi Joanne, With all the parents I speak with, I always say that the most important thing you can do is to find a physician who truly understands plagiocephaly & its treatment. Finding a good physician who takes your concerns seriously, is half the battle. If you're constantly put off with statements like 'it'll round out on its own', or 'don't worry hair will cover it when he/she is older' its time to get a second opinion. If a helmet is recommended, you should spend the time to find out what experience the group has had with treating plagiocephaly and specifically what success they've had with their helmet. How many children have they treated? Is this a new program? How many years has the individual been providing this service? What kind of training have they had? How frequently do they follow up with the child? Ask them specific questions about plagiocephaly and try to guage their response. Are they comforatable discussing it, or do you find the answers elusive? If you are uncomforatable, take the time to do some more research. I am not familiar with what is available in Austrailia, but if it is anything like the U.S., there are a lot small helmet programs, and it will be up to you as parents to try to assess the quality of treatment they can provide. As an additional resource, at the international cranioafial meeting this June I had the chance to speak with Dr. . Dr. is a craniofacial surgeon from Australia who is considered one of the top specialists in his field. We discussed how many parents on this site were from Australia, and he informed me that he runs a plagiocephaly clinic in his office and would be more than happy to answer any questions the parents may have. His address is: J. , MD 226 Melbourne Street North Adelaide South Australia 5006 Phone: 61 8 8267 1466 email: ddavid@... Along with the fact that the " Aussie Mommies and Daddies " are at this site learning everything they can about plagiocephaly, I think that's a great start. Sincerely, Tim littlefield@... > > Hi all, > > We finally saw the specialist about Jade's plagio. Unfortunately he > > says Jade is too old for her to get much benefit from a helmet. She > > is 10 months old next week. > > I know that many babies in the USA get helmets as old as 12 months > > but at the end of the day there are only 2 specialists in Australia > > who believe in helmets and without their referral its just not > going > > to happen for us. > > It's disappointing to travel all that way to only find out that its > > too late. I had a good talk to this doctor and I clearly sensed the > > pressure that he is under from most doctors in Australia as they > > simply don't believe in the use of helmets. So with this in mind my > > guess is that he will only treat babies which are at the perfect > age > > (3 to 6 months). > > Jade still has some limitations in her neck movement and a small > > tilt. The specialist says that we need to continue with physio and > > neck muscle stretching as this may help the plagio a little. Thats > > all we can do for her now. > > > > With the other specialist living over 2500km away from us, we have > to > > accept that there is no hope of treatment in Australia. > > > > Thanks for all your support. Its time for us to sign off from our > > quest for help. > > > > Simon > > Australia > > > For more plagio info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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