Helmet Heads

Yesterday we had our appointment at Children's Hospital in Boston with Dr. Rogers a pediatric plastic surgeon. Our pediatrician had referred us to Dr. Rogers when we started to notice that the girls heads were still a little "off". The doctor measured both girls heads, and examined them thoroughly before offering us two options.

Emma's head is 39 cm in circumference (not a big head), but it is not the correct shape - she has Plagiocephaly...basically there is an indentation on one side of her head. This is due to her being premature and her positioning inside of me.

Robin's head is 38 cm in circumference (even smaller than Emma's), and is flat in the back - she has Brachycephaly. Again this is due to her prematurity and positioning in the womb. Her head is more square, and it is starting to cause some disfiguration of her features (eyes and ears).

The options are:

1. Do nothing and they will have funny shaped heads - not that big of a deal, but there is the possibility of bulging in the front for Emma...it would not be pretty.
2. Correct both girls malformations by having them wear helmets. They will probably have to wear them for 4-8 weeks (21 hours/day)

The doctor mentioned that they probably look less and less alike due to their differing malformations if left untreated. With correction, they will start to look more like the identical twins they are. He's pretty confident that both the Brachycephaly and Plagiocephaly will be corrected and they will have nicely shaped heads after the repositioning. So we start the Helmet Heads in a few weeks (he wants to wait until they get to 3 months adjusted age (they were 5 weeks 1 day premature). So we're going to get measured in 2 weeks and they will start the treatment in 3-4 weeks.

I'm giving everyone 1 opportunity to make a joke or make fun of Robin and Emma...but only 1 opportunity...so use yours wisely. Any jokes or jabs after that will not be taken well...we don't want to give them a complex...though this blog will probably do that. I'll try not to take too many pictures during their helmet period.