WWYD -- don't know whether to graduate or not?

May 12, 2008

My son Marco's primary condition when we started this process was

brachy -- very flat in the back and football shaped. He also had

plagio with his flat spot on the left side. We got his Starband 3

months ago and saw dramatic results the first month -- his overall

head shape was much better and his assymetry went from 8 mm to 4 mm.

But then I noticed that his helmet was always shifted over to one

side and when I readjusted it, it would always go back. I called the

othotist and he said it was ok as long as it wasn't covering Marco's

eye or anything. At Marco's 2-month visit, his brachy was continuing

to improve but we had a little regression on the plagio side -- he

was about 6 mm of assymetry now. I kept asking about the helmet

shifting and said that repositioning was impossible. The ortho said

it was ok. Well, we just got back from the ortho for Marco's 3-month

appt and, once again, the brachy is basically resolved but there's

more assymetry -- 7.5 mm (back to where we started!). I told the

ortho that I thought that the shifted helmet was the culprit and he

agreed. He shaved out a little bit of it from the back to create

some space for the flat area to grow out. But he said that Marco

would only be able to wear the helmet for a couple more weeks because

it's getting too small and not sitting right in general.

My Q is, if you were me, would you get him refitted for a new helmet

(with a new orthotist) to correct the assymetry? The flat spot is

not that noticable but his ped said it would be nice to correct it.

And I can still see it. I'm also worried that it'll get worse when

the helmet comes off. At the same time, I wonder if I'm just being a

perfectionist? Marco's 8 months old, BTW.

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