Re: Going to a specialist without a referral

[Guest guest]

Hi Leila,

According to this following website, the orthotist Terpenning at ECA

had designed his own helmet and won approval for the device from the

Food and Drug Administration.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14258-2005Mar7_3.html

If I remember correctly, my friend's baby boy started to wear

Terpenning's helmet when he was 4 months old. He wore it for 12

weeks. I saw him once when he was in the helmet. At that time I

didn't pay attention to his facial asymmetry. After I decided that my

twin boys should get treated for their facial asymmetry, we went to

visit my friend and check out her boy's head The boy is 3 years

old now. Clearly there is no facial asymmetry any more. I asked to

see some pictures of him before he wore the helmet. From the

pictures, I feel that his facial asymmetry was very similar to that of

one of my boys (Garrick). I think he also had both plagio and brachy

like my boys. I don't know about his severity. When we went to CT,

Garrick was diagnosed with moderate plagio.

I was doing repo for my boys for 8 months and saw no improvement.

It's very upsetting. Our pediatrician told us that their heads will

eventually round out and we don't need to worry about it. I was

afraid that if I wait too long and their heads don't round out, it

will become too difficult to correct. I just couldn't take the

anxiety any more. So we finally decided to receive treatment. One

week after the DSi Scan at CT, all of a sudden Garrick's facial

asymmetry went away by itself... I think he's probably just gone

through a growth spurt this week. I measured his head circumference.

His head is half an inch bigger than last measurement. Had it

happened sooner, I think our decision would've been different.

I am just very confused myself. Maybe it is really possible for

babies' heads to correct themselves in some cases. But I didn't want

to take the chance.

Mother of 10 months old twin boys, NJ

> >

> > Hi everybody,

> >

> > I am brand new to this group and the reason I joined is because I

> > feel that my little 5 months old daughter needs a helmet to correct

> > her Plagiocephaly. We've noticed it when she was about 1 and 1/2

> > month old and also noticed that her head was titled and constantly

> > turned to the right.

> >

> > At her 2 months old visit, the doctor gave us some neck streching

> > exercises to do at home and told us to reposition her to her left

> > side when she slept. She also said that her head would round up

> > eventually.

> >

> > At her 4 months old visit, another doctor just says the same thing,

> > not to worry that it will round up. In the meantime, although her

> > head shape has changed since the first time we've noticed it, it is

> > not round at all and her head still tilts slightly to the right,

> > never to the left.

> >

> > I am tired of waiting and not really seeing any improvement. We were

> > not even referred to a PT to treat her torticollis even less a

> > specialist in helmets. Therefore, I schedule my own.

> >

> > My first appointment is this Wednesday with Cranial Technologies in

> > ndale. We are also checking Eastern Cranial Technologies in

> > Falls Church next Wednesday.

> >

> > What worries me is that she doesn't qualify for helmet. I have a

> > hard time measuring her from the nose to the left and right ear.

> > There doesn't seem to be more than 5mm difference, yet, the right

> > back side of her head is flat...

> >

> > Also, does the helmet correct the torticollis? Has anybody gone to

> > both CT and ECA and preferred one over the other?

> >

> > Please help me figure out what to do before it's too late.

> >

> > Thanks,

> > Leila

> >

>