Medical problems to untreated cases

• Everyone has a right to their own personal image, preferably symmetrical and of normal proportions.
• The morphological repercussions can be severe and in some cases even worse than in simple or complex craniosynostosis which can in turn lead to psychological problems in early chidhood and adolescence.
• Functional impact in untreated cases can become important.

Miller and Clarren published that 39.8% of untreated plagiocephalies produce neurological development delays.
Kordestani and collaborators studied 110 non-treated plagiocephaly patients and found that 19% had medium psychomotor delays, 7% with a high level of psychomotor delays, 7% with medium cognitive delays and 3% with a high level of cognitive delays.
Our team are carrying out prospective studies on children treated for plagiocephaly to be able to determine the degree of functional effects by age, sex, deformity type and severity.

• 2000: Miller y Clarren.
• 2001: Panchal
• 2006: Kordestani
• 2008: Fowler
• 2010: Speltz

• 2012: Korpilahti

A very high proportion of plagiocephaly sufferers present symptoms but it often goes unnoticed. Deviation of the plane of the eyes at ear-height, difficulty in turning the head to one side, a preference to sleep always to one side are indicators that the baby is suffering from CMT. If looking from the back your child is seen to have a fold at the neck as in the image, you can be fairly sure that it is CMT.

Early treatment is essential, on a daily basis and for as long as may be deemed necessary.

The long-term effects of untreated or unresolved CMT can be serious since the deformity due to plagiocephaly will be added to the facial skew provoked by a twisted neck.

• See article TMC
• See image TMC

As far as we know, there is only one article which talks about an apparent connection between plagiocephaly and auditory dysfunction. Further research will be needed to determine the importance of this study.

• See article

We have posted two articles on visual dysfunctions in plagiocephaly patients.

• Article 1
• Article 2