Craniosynostosis Terminology

2.jpg” alt=”craniosynostosis” width=”210″ height=”202″ />If your baby has craniosynostosis, there’s going to be a lot of terminology thrown around, much of which you probably won’t recognize right away. Here’s some of it — familiarize yourself with it before the next time you visit the doctor.

Phenotype: the distinct appearance with which a child suffering from craniosynostosis is born. The exact features are determined by which of the cranial sutures is closed.

Scaphocephaly: The literal meaning of this Greek word is “boathead.” The child will have a prominent forehead (or frontal bossing) and a prominent back of the head (or coning), giving the head a boat-like shape when viewed from the side.

Trigonocephaly: The loose Greek translation of this is “triangular shaped head.” It occurs when the metopic suture* (frontal suture) closes prematurely, resulting in a narrow forehead and eyes that are closer together than average.

*Other sutures are the coronal and sagittal sutures — “dense, fibrous connective tissue joints that separates the frontal and parietal bones of the skull” — and lamboid sutures, which are located at the posterior of the skull. At the time of birth, the bones of the skull are not yet supposed to meet — when they do, the result is craniosynostosis.