Re: How long for facial assymetry to correct?

[Guest guest]

Hi Peyton. My 13-month-old son Dylan's plagio is also moderate and

he is in his Starband right now (has been since March). We've seen

improvement in the back of his head but I notice that the left side

of his head is wider than the right. I don't know if it's

noticeable to others but of course, I'm sure all of us see more than

others now that we're dealing with this and looking for it. My

understanding is that it will not go away unfortunately. Our

orthotist said that they can't do anything about the growth that has

already happened but can only redirect future growth with the

helmet. I have heard though, that head growth doesn't really stop

until a child is about 30 months so additional rounding can occur.

I don't think the facial assymetry will correct itself though. I

mostly can see it when I put Dylan in front of a mirror (his flat

spot looks worse too in the mirror - not sure why). His pictures

are in the Dylan F album.

Beth

MI

--- In Plagiocephaly , " peynunez " <peynunez@a...>

wrote:

> Hello all. It's been a while since I posted here. My son had

> moderate positional plagio and wore a Starband for 10 weeks; he

> graduated in December. Recently I've become concerned at the

> assymetry I still see in his face. At certain angles, it looks

like

> the right side of his face sticks out farther than the left.

> Also, when I hold him in front of a mirror, the right side of his

> head/face looks flat compared to the left side. However, the back

> of his head looks great, and looks normal when viewing it from the

> top (although I can still see some slight flattening when his hair

> is wet). Also, his ears, while not perfectly alligned, are close

to

> being symetrical.

>

> My son is now 15 months old. Do you think I can expect his facial

> assymetry to improve over the next few months? I understood his

> neurosurgeon to say that facial assymetries are the last to

correct

> and that the facial bones will continue to move until he's about

24

> months. Is this what you guys have heard?

>

> Thanks in advance for getting through this long-winded post!

>

> Peyton

[Guest guest]

Hello Payton (What a beautiful name)

Someone on the board had discussed this a while back. They had

mentioned that once the skull is set into a normal position that the

face would slowly correct itself as well. I believe they had even

mentioned till the age of 5. I can't recall who it was or what the

name of the post was, but I do recall the message b/c Willow still

has facial asymmetry and I really liked the message of this post. I

hope that this is true. It does make sense though that the face

will slowly correct. Only time will tell.

Sandy Willow's Mom

Torticollis resolved

Cranio Germany Grad 02/04

--- In Plagiocephaly , " peynunez " <peynunez@a...>

wrote:

> Hello all. It's been a while since I posted here. My son had

> moderate positional plagio and wore a Starband for 10 weeks; he

> graduated in December. Recently I've become concerned at the

> assymetry I still see in his face. At certain angles, it looks

like

> the right side of his face sticks out farther than the left.

> Also, when I hold him in front of a mirror, the right side of his

> head/face looks flat compared to the left side. However, the back

> of his head looks great, and looks normal when viewing it from the

> top (although I can still see some slight flattening when his hair

> is wet). Also, his ears, while not perfectly alligned, are close

to

> being symetrical.

>

> My son is now 15 months old. Do you think I can expect his facial

> assymetry to improve over the next few months? I understood his

> neurosurgeon to say that facial assymetries are the last to

correct

> and that the facial bones will continue to move until he's about

24

> months. Is this what you guys have heard?

>

> Thanks in advance for getting through this long-winded post!

>

> Peyton

[Guest guest]

Hi,

It think it was me who previously posted the information that Sandy is

referring to. My daughter's doctor, a cranial-facial surgeon at Yale

Medical Center told me that it takes " years " for the face to correct -

that changes will continue happening until age 5 or so. His

description of this was actually independently stated by my daughter's

pediatrician as well, for what its worth.

My understanding is that the key to correcting the face is to correct

the shape of the skull base so that when the face grows it is hanging

on the corrected shape. If you search the web for topics like

neuro-cranial growth you can see diagrams of how much the face grows

during the first 5 years. Its pretty incredible - it seems to kind of

double in length.

I certainly do see adults who have facial assymetries like one

checkbone more prominent, etc. So growth must not be a cure-all. But,

perhaps growth on a corrected skull base is the most promising.

I'm hoping for continued facial correction for daughter as well.

Best Wishes,

> > Hello all. It's been a while since I posted here. My son had

> > moderate positional plagio and wore a Starband for 10 weeks; he

> > graduated in December. Recently I've become concerned at the

> > assymetry I still see in his face. At certain angles, it looks

> like

> > the right side of his face sticks out farther than the left.

> > Also, when I hold him in front of a mirror, the right side of his

> > head/face looks flat compared to the left side. However, the back

> > of his head looks great, and looks normal when viewing it from the

> > top (although I can still see some slight flattening when his hair

> > is wet). Also, his ears, while not perfectly alligned, are close

> to

> > being symetrical.

> >

> > My son is now 15 months old. Do you think I can expect his facial

> > assymetry to improve over the next few months? I understood his

> > neurosurgeon to say that facial assymetries are the last to

> correct

> > and that the facial bones will continue to move until he's about

> 24

> > months. Is this what you guys have heard?

> >

> > Thanks in advance for getting through this long-winded post!

> >

> > Peyton

[Guest guest]

Hi Peyton,

My daughter's asymmetry was on of the last things to correct. I'm

surprised your ortho graduated him if he still had asymmetry. I wish

I had some answers for you, I'm sorry that I don't.

--- In Plagiocephaly , " peynunez " <peynunez@a...>

wrote:

> Hello all. It's been a while since I posted here. My son had

> moderate positional plagio and wore a Starband for 10 weeks; he

> graduated in December. Recently I've become concerned at the

> assymetry I still see in his face. At certain angles, it looks

like

> the right side of his face sticks out farther than the left.

> Also, when I hold him in front of a mirror, the right side of his

> head/face looks flat compared to the left side. However, the back

> of his head looks great, and looks normal when viewing it from the

> top (although I can still see some slight flattening when his hair

> is wet). Also, his ears, while not perfectly alligned, are close

to

> being symetrical.

>

> My son is now 15 months old. Do you think I can expect his facial

> assymetry to improve over the next few months? I understood his

> neurosurgeon to say that facial assymetries are the last to correct

> and that the facial bones will continue to move until he's about 24

> months. Is this what you guys have heard?

>

> Thanks in advance for getting through this long-winded post!

>

> Peyton

[Guest guest]

Hi Peyton,

From my experience I can say you will see improvement in your son's

facial asymmetry. My son Jake wore a DOC band from 7mo to 10.5mo.

His head looked great, but he still had some very noticable facial

asymmetry. I still saw it in pictures I took for his 1st Birthday.

Jake will be 2 years old at the end of the month and I can honestly

say I don't see any noticable asymmetry. If I really look closely -

I do see a little - but I seem to be the only one.

I'm going to try to post some pictures of his progres when I get a

chance.

--- In Plagiocephaly , " peynunez " <peynunez@a...>

wrote:

> Hello all. It's been a while since I posted here. My son had

> moderate positional plagio and wore a Starband for 10 weeks; he

> graduated in December. Recently I've become concerned at the

> assymetry I still see in his face. At certain angles, it looks

like

> the right side of his face sticks out farther than the left.

> Also, when I hold him in front of a mirror, the right side of his

> head/face looks flat compared to the left side. However, the back

> of his head looks great, and looks normal when viewing it from the

> top (although I can still see some slight flattening when his hair

> is wet). Also, his ears, while not perfectly alligned, are close

to

> being symetrical.

>

> My son is now 15 months old. Do you think I can expect his facial

> assymetry to improve over the next few months? I understood his

> neurosurgeon to say that facial assymetries are the last to correct

> and that the facial bones will continue to move until he's about 24

> months. Is this what you guys have heard?

>

> Thanks in advance for getting through this long-winded post!

>

> Peyton