What started out as just a raised soft spot on my 3 month old turned into a large mass on my daughters head. A ctScan was done at 5 months followed by an MRI (http://twitpic.com/8hgvdr) . This showed that it was not cancer and that it did not "communicate" with the brain. Doctor speak for the mass being located between the skull and the skin and not the skull and the brain. We were told not to worry unless it changed in size or caused her discomfort. (Of course it did grow in size, but it never seemed to bother her) At 5 months she was too young for surgery, we were told the risk of nicking the artery that runs under the soft spot of the head was higher at that age because the soft spot of the skull does not close until later... and in this case the mass being there, if it were to grow, could cause a divit into the skull (which it did). It's a risk versus benefit thing. Overall she was fine. As time went on the mass got increasingly bigger and was no longer symmetrical, random people would touch her head to say "oh, isn't she so cute" not knowing about her bump and all of a sudden get all weird and concerned about her. Awkward to constantly tell her story and tell people that she was fine. Who says unicorns don't exist... my kid has special powers like you wouldn't believe! Which makes it impossible to not fall in love with her... ultimately I was more and more uncomfortable with how big it had gotten. The idea of waiting until 4 or 5 years of age to remove it made me want to scream, let alone the thought of trying to put a bike helmet on her. So I posted this on Facebook and Twitter asking for help, we had been told nothing we could do until she was 4-5 and she was only 14 months: http://twitpic.com/1zdhzh... it was getting so big!! And of course, I searched the internet... but didn't find much. However, this case study I found while researching the internet for information gave me some hope, so when I brought it to her neurosurgeon that seemed to help with the decision to remove the mass. [Congenital inclusion cysts of the anterior fontanelle are rare lesions that usually manifest at birth. The diagnosis is usually easy and surgery is mandatory, with a good prognosis. Recurrence is rare.] The authors report on 13 cases of dermoid cysts over the anterior fontanelle in Czechoslovak children. These children were 2--19 months of age; with a male-to-female ratio of 2:1. The cyst sizes ranged from 10 to 30 mm. Hence, the number of cases published in the world so far in children has increased to 174. Simultaneously, the number of European cases has increased to 30 (17.2%). Nevertheless, the dominance of the reported cases is still 74 in America (42.5%) and 45 in Africa (25.9%). http://www.springerlink.com/content/g0t247h642117305/ The surgery was scheduled to take about 2 hours, my awesome neurologist only took an hour... and promised me he would only shave off as much hair as he had to. I also learned that neurosurgeons don't drink coffee so they have steady hands. I am in awe at what they give up for their job. lol. I must have my coffee!! As you can see in the video. He has very steady hands indeed. He told us he might have to install a titanium plate to protect her brain. He wouldn't know until he got in there and was able to see how thick/thin the skull was. If it was thin, he would put it in. If it seemed ok, then he would skip it... the metal device with all the holes that is literally screwed onto her skull is that titanium plate. It is there to prevent injury from her being hit on the head (his example was a pencil or something random like that... can you even imagine??) So the plate was installed, it will be there forever, not anticipating any problems with it, and in that unlikely event... we'll deal with that bridge when we get there. (crossing every body part possible that we never have to deal with a re-occurance or any issues with the titanium) We often get asked, which was also one of our first questions when the Dr said he would be putting in a titanium plate, "will she beep at the airport?" Not unless they change the technology they use at security... hope she doesn't have to explain too much when she flies! On the way to the hospital: http://twitpic.com/8hglmj After Surgery, bandaged up: http://twitpic.com/8hgm2c View of stitches from top: http://twitpic.com/8hgk6t View of stitches from front: http://twitpic.com/8hgkrh Now: http://twitpic.com/8hgogw ... You would never know that she has a titanium plate on her head! My hope is that this was helpful to you in some way. It was hard to find information about this when I was searching and if I can help just one scared parent or further the education of a med student or other doctor... I am happy to share her story. As you can see... She's doing just fine now :D http://youtu.be/tgR2P0j7ZaY You can't even see her scar!! https://www.instagram.com/p/BATfBcVneKc/

• published: 30 Dec 2011
• views: 9280