The birthing process will often cause an infant's head to be mis-shapen, but it gradually corrects itself within the first 6 weeks of life. However, an abnormally shaped head beyond that age in a newborn can have a variety of causes . It is important to have a correct diagnosis, and this can only accurately be made by a qualified specialist .
Treatment depends entirely entirely on the diagnostic category determined by accurate assessment.
Our clinical, radiographic and anthropometric data shows that these deformations do not correct without intervention, although mild asymmetrical features may appear normalized due to a masking affect of hair and increasing head dimensions in a growing infant. Remodeling of the head shape has spanned centuries in many cultures. Hippocrates described procedures used on female children among Greek aristocracy to alter the shape of the head. No indication has been found that these skull remodellings changed the volume and weight of the brain. The molding helmet was developed as a conservative treatment, and is most effective in the first 12 months of life, when brain growth is rapid.