Cranial Tech vs Hanger questions

January 14, 2011

My daughter, Eleanor, is 8 months old and was just diagnosed plagiocephalic a

couple of weeks ago.

We were originally referred by our pediatrician to Cranial Technologies (who use

the Doc Band). I really liked their office and the people, and it made me very

comfortable that cranial banding is ALL that they do, that it's their specialty.

Also, my husband's nephew went to Cranial Tech and had a Doc Band for his

treatment (plagio runs in the family).

Unfortunately, our insurance will only approve us to us Hanger. We haven't met

with them yet, but have an appointment next week. I already have several

concerns:

1) The woman from Hanger who called me was an idiot. This conversation was the

first I had ever heard of Hanger, Inc, and I wasn't aware that they had their

own band. So, I asked her what type of band they use (Doc Band, Star Band,

etc), and she couldn't answer me. She just kept trying to put me on the line

with someone else.

2) It seems that Hanger, Inc does other things besides cranial banding, but

Cranial Tech specializes in it. That makes a big difference in my mind. This

is my kid's skull we're talking about, I would prefer to go to someone who

specializes in it.

3) The Hanger website didn't offer very many views of the helmets. Are all

Hanger helmets the full-head ones? Or can they also be the partial head ones

like Doc Band? Does that even make any sense?

4) The website also didn't offer any before and after pictures or give

guidelines for potential treatment time. The lack of before and afters bothers

me. Also, we were told at Cranial Tech that Ellie could potentially be done

with treatment in 3-4 months. While I understand that every case is different,

does Hanger generally take longer than Doc Band?

I am thinking about calling our insurance to see if they would pay anything for

Doc Band and we just pay the difference, or if we are stuck with Hanger unless

we pay all of it out of pocket.

I was hoping that I could get some different opinions and experience on the Doc

Band vs Hanger and also get some pictures of kids in Hanger helmets?

Thank you so much in advance!

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