Plagiocephaly, aka flat head syndrome, is exactly what the names says. It means the back of Carter's head is flat. We went to Children's (our favorite place) Friday to get Carter checked out based on a referral from his physician. It was our first visit so the Dr did an initial overview and then scanned Carter's head.
Based on his observations, Carter definitely has a flat spot and it is lightly more pronounced on his left side. Unlike a lot of patients, Carter's forehead is symmetrical and normal in size. Also, his skull bones are in great position so if we can just get them to fill out, he should be fine. Luckily for us, we are on the early side of starting this process. So we can hopefully avoid getting a helmet.
In order to track Carter's progress, they do a scan of his head to get some measurements. In order to avoid having his hair affect the scan, then cut a whole in a stretchy sock and put it over his head. Carter was a trooper and looked pretty cute in his stocking cap.
He even gave me a half smile despite his shirt saying otherwise.
The scan pretty much confirmed what the Dr thought. Carter definitely has a moderate case of Plagiocephaly. His CR (Cephalic Ratio) is .948. This is his head width divided by the length. An ideal number is .78 but the Dr said if Carter progresses to .91 we are in good shape. His RSI (Radial Symmetry Index) is 15.3 which means his left side and right side aren't equal. An ideal number here is zero.
Our next step is to meet with a physical therapist next week to learn some techniques to help and get Carter checked for potential Torticolis (not likely but better safe than sorry). We then go back to the Dr in a month to check on his progress. The bright side to all of this is that this is completely a cosmetic issue. There is no impact to Carter's brain development.
Here's to hoping Carter's head grows longer not wider over the next month!
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