Plate used after skull damage

[stevethegibbon]

Following a serious accident, because of swelling to his brain,my eldest son (19) has had a third of his skull removed. I ve been told when he can have it repaired in several months time, after other problems have settled/been resolved, the surgeons will use a ceramic plate, how is this attatched to whats left of his own skull bone? Will it be screwed together, glued or something else? Also, with his hair grown long, how noticeable will the repairs be? Usually can the surgeons make the shape of the plate like the natural shape of my sons original skull?

[stevethegibbon]

Thankyou for your reply, Ive only seen his neuro surgeons so far, 6 weeks since his accident. He was in a coma for the first 13 days. For the first three weeks he was in the Regional brain injuries centre (Liverpool, England). Hes now in the local hospitals intensive care unit.
Hes making steady progress.
He used to have long (ish) hair before the accident, Im interested to know why growing his hair long wont help give him a more natural look? At the moment hair is growing well right across his scalp, except obviously on the scarred areas (of which there are a lot, as he had 4 lots of brain surgery)

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
All types of re-constructions are done—from screws to glues to interlocking. Usually a stepwise approach is used depending on the condition of the patient and underlying disease.
Usually, the skull structure can be restored to original shape. Thereafter scalp closure, and hair grafting can be tried to give natural look. If a large portion of skull is removed, then growing hair long will not help.
Do discuss this with your son's treating doctors which will comprise of a team of neuro-surgeons, orthopedics, and plastic surgeons. Take care!

[stevethegibbon]

Thanks for the quick response Purranha, unfortunetly they were unable to keep the piece of skull removed as much of it was too badly damaged to be reused later. They have told me at a much later stage in my sons recovery they will fit a ceramic plate

[purranha]

Usually, the part of the skull that has been removed is kept and frozen. It is then used as a model for the creation of the plate that is used to repair the skull. It is usually atached to the bone with tiny plates or wires. Once the scalp is laid back over it and the incision in closed, his head should look pretty much like it did before. After hair grows back in to cover the surgical scar, it will not be obvious at all.