Plagiocephaly .... anyone with experience of helmets?

[IsItPimmsOClock]

DS (5.5 months) has plagio, very flat on the right hand side of his head. This has been caused by torticollis which is now being treated by an osteopath.

I have been looking into helmet treatment but really can't decide what to do. Would be very interested to hear about anyone's experience of helmet treatment or has it improved on it's own if you decided not to try a helmet?

ME! My daughter had one.

Please - tell me more!!

Okay. Very very briefly as I am sure you don't want to be bored by the story. Working back to front, we saw Dr Blecher privately at Harley Street who measured her assymetry and took a cast for her a helmet which he made for her and we got 2 weeks later. She went from 1.7cm to 0.3cm in 3 months. (Her big brother is 0.1cm). She was 10 months when she started on it which is too late really but look how well it worked?

my friend has realised that her daughter has a very flat side to the back of her head
the nhs class the helmets as a cosmetic need and therefore won pay for it
my question is, IS it just cosmetic and therefore you are just wanting your children to have a nicely shaped head or is it going to affect them in a medical sense???and therefore she needs to get it sorted

I've just got a helmet for DD2. We're are a week in and she absolutely hates it but there has already been some improvement. You can make a (free) appointment to see an orthotist and they will tell you how severe it is and then you can decide whether to go ahead. The only reason we have gone ahead (DD2 only has moderate brachy) is that my eldest has plagio that didn't completely rectify itself without treatment and he has SN. Most peads tell us that there is a question mark over the link between asymmetry/flattening and special needs but it still needs researching. As parents who have been through the mill, we didn't want to take any risks. So IME, if your HV or GP tell you "it's just cosmetic" and "it will fill out naturally", this may be the case for 99% of children but it isn't always. Good luck.

This pisses me off so much. IT IS NOT A COSMETIC PROBLEM!!!!!

Thanks for the replies - I think we're going to at least have a consultation to see "officially" how severe it is.

castles - hope your dd gets used to it soon, but good news that it's working already.

While ds still has torticollis there's little chance of it improving on it's own as he just won't be re-positioned.

canhe have botox for torticollis??

Get in touch with Dr Blecher. He is the man.

Hi there, our ds2 had a helmet fitted for moderate plagio in London by a company called Cranialtech who have since closed the London branch. It really worked very well for him (his ears were out by 22mm and are now only out by 3mm) and he never ever minded wearing his little space man helmet!

elastic - I've not heard of botox treatment, how does that work?

i dont know. i know someone who's wifehas it periodically,for torticollis, and she is not the only one i know of... but have no more detials i am afrad

Trinity, there is evidence to suggest that if left untreated it could cause jaw problems, problems with your ears, neck etc. Never mind the fact that he might get bullied later for having a flat head. Unfortunately, the NHS will not recognise it and it can be very expensive. Cost us £2.500. Guess we will never really find out whether it made a significant difference in his life..but we tried. And let me just say one thing, it was never cosmetical...to us he's gorgeous..no matter what.

there is loads about it if you google it..

Yes, we have exercises to do for the torticollis and it is improving but it's not yet possible to reposition him to sleep any way other than on his flat spot so for at least half the day there's pressure on it.

elastic - will google for it, thanks!

interesting there's so many with helmets - I've never seen one in RL.

sorry, can't link otheriwse woul have done for you

www.plagiocephalyuk.co.uk/

We had some support on the yahoo site but the one above came up first.