The skull is comprised of the paired frontal, temporal, parietal and the occipital bones.  The areas where one bone meets another is called a "suture."  Where the confluence of the frontal and parietal bones comes together is known as the anterior fontanelle or soft spot.  The skull grows by deposition of bone at these "sutures."  It is only during completion of skull growth that these "sutures" close.

Occasionally, during in utero development these bones fuse prematurely.  When the bones fuse prematurely the condition is known as craniosynostosis..

Your pediatrician can diagnosis craniosynostosis by serial skull measurements, x-rays or you may note an abnormal skull shape manifested by a flattening or prominence of certain areas of the skull. 

Surgery to correct cranosynostosis is ideally performed between the ages of 3 - 6 months of age.

Please note that not all abnormal skull shapes are due to craniosynostosis and after an adequate work-up your physician will be able to tell you which are.

Some of the more frequent craniosynostoses are plagiocephaly, trigonocephaly, scaphocephaly.

Dr. Duboys has a special interest is this surgery and all surgery is performed as a team with neurosurgeon, Dr. Michael Egnor, MD, Professor at Stony Brook University.