How can young children get metal plates on their skull if they are still growing?
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They tend not to get metal plates after surgery if you get than teenagers.
It also depends on the reason for doing a craniotomy.
There will be times when you can put the bone removed back where is came from at the same surgery.
Other times the bit of skull removed can be stored to be replaced at a later date (in cases where you need to allow swelling to go down before filling the gap or perhaps some other reasons). In these situations there are two options that tend to be used. Either the piece of skull is frozen (-40to -80C) or it can be placed within abdominal skin fat to keep it viable.
There are also times when the original bone cannot be used. In these situations they will usually take bone from other parts of the body (I think the hip is a common place to use but I might be wrong) and use that as a patch for the gap. This is able to grow along with the skull in a way similar to normal growth.
When the gap isn’t immediately filled in the first surgery, the skin is closed over the space. The family then has to be careful that the area isn’t injured. Many will wear helmets once the wound has healed
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