Re: new member needs advice!

[Guest guest]

I am right with you feeling guilty, I think we have all felt it at some point or another. However, I treated my first baby the exact same way and her head is perfectly round. So let it go and move foward.

By doing your research before you go to the pediatrician you can suggest a referral site (if you have a provider near you). We have only been in the band for 2 weeks and my sons facial assemetry has almost completely gone away (he was listed in the "severe" catigory). Go with you gut and don't let anyone deter you. Also what insurance do you have? Wish you the best!

Kirsten

From: mezhyldyz <mezhyldyz@...>Plagiocephaly Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 12:33:57 PMSubject: new member needs advice!

Hi there,I am glad I found this support group. Don't even know where to start. My baby is 4 month old and from birth had a full head of hair. His hair were getting to cover his eyes, so we trimmed them and it was then I noticed this strange head shape. After doing some research I think he most likely has plagiocephaly -- I am very frustrated and feeling like a complete failure for not noticing it earlier. We will see our pediatrician today. His ears are misalligned (maybe ~1cm) and there is a slight assymetry on the forhead and cheek. So my question is, should I insist on getting a helmet (we don't have cranial technologies here in Ann Arbor, MI) or should we wait and try repositioning first. The other question is would the face assymetry go away after the treatment? We would do the treatment anyway, but I think knowing that it is reversible would help me with my guilt feeling.Thanks a

lot!Zhyldyz

[Guest guest]

Oh you are like my neighbor!! We're in Farmington Hills. We were sent to see the staff at Children's of Detroit and have had nothing but a good experience with them. I'm not sure if the Childern's Hospital in Ann Arbor has a similar department. We are using a helmet made out of Ann Arbor by a company called Danmar and have had great luck with it. I asked why this brand and not Hanger or DOC and was told it's lighter weight and the head surgeon at Children's prefers it. We've had good results with it thus far.

Don't beat yourself up too bad. Four months is the earliest age most of us get diagnosed and learn about plagio and banding and so on.

As for face asymmetry we were told not to expect much for a while yet, but Elaine was smushed inutero so there's more going on there than just plagio. It should even out in time and they would look at it again when she was around the age of four. That has to do with her jaw and cheeks. Her eyes on the other hand have become more symmetrical as her plagio has improved. What gives me hope is that I know a girl that had a very asymmetrical face (she's about to graduate HS) when she was little. One cheek was noticeably larger than the other. She never wore a helmet or had any kind of treatment to resolve it and by the time she started Kindergarten you could barely see the difference in her eyes and cheeks. So yes, banding will improve facial symmetry, and time seems to even it out even more.

You can also reposition at this point. Aggressive repositioning will improve the head shape but will become less effective the more mobile they become. Oh I want to write more but I have to run out the door. I'll check back in later!

Elaine (Twin A) plagio & tort, 9mos, 2nd helmet since 1/5/09

n Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 1:33 PM, mezhyldyz <mezhyldyz@...> wrote:

Hi there,I am glad I found this support group. Don't even know where to start. My baby is 4 month old and from birth had a full head of hair. His hair were getting to cover his eyes, so we trimmed them and it was then I

noticed this strange head shape. After doing some research I think he most likely has plagiocephaly -- I am very frustrated and feeling like a complete failure for not noticing it earlier. We will see our pediatrician today.

His ears are misalligned (maybe ~1cm) and there is a slight assymetry on the forhead and cheek. So my question is, should I insist on getting a helmet (we don't have cranial technologies here in Ann Arbor, MI) or

should we wait and try repositioning first. The other question is would the face assymetry go away after the treatment? We would do the treatment anyway, but I think knowing that it is reversible would help me with my guilt feeling.

Thanks a lot!Zhyldyz