My name is Matthew Davis, and I was born with craniosynostosis. I'm writing this to maybe shed some light on this condition and inform you how my life is right now. Please bare with me, this is a work in progress.
I was born in Albemarle, North Carolina (USA) on October 28, 1980 at 11:23 pm. My due date was the 15th, so I was trouble even before birth. I was 10 lbs 8 oz and 21 3/4 inches longs.
My first operation was, Wednesday 17 Dec 1980 (2 months old) at the Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, NC. Dr. David Kelly performed the first operation. He performed a 'craniectomy for synostosis' (as my mom's journal states). And according to my mom's journal, a bone scan was done before my first operation which showed that I had heavy concentrations of settlement in the ends of my bones. The operation was successful. The trauma my head went through swelled my eyes shut (as the picture below shows). By Thursday morning my eyes were swollen completely shut and stayed that way until Friday. My movement was the only way my mom could tell if I was awake. IVs were placed in my legs and ankles so I wouldn't try to grab at them (which I still have the scars of on my ankles). Luckily Dr. Kelly let us go home early (Monday Dec 22) instead of Christmas Eve.
My second operation took place Wednesday 4 Feb 1981 (4 months old). And again, the operation was successful, and done by Dr. Kelly again. I was able to go home on Saturday.
The previous two paragraphs were taken from my mothers journal kept during the hospital stay. The rest is from my memory. I was only suppose to live to about the age of 6. And the quality of life up to that point would have been practically a vegetable condition. So I'm very thankful that the doctors were able to do what they did.
My life since these operations has not been an easy one. I went through another operation by the age of 2, and again another major operation at about the age of 9 or 10. At age 17 a minor cosmetic surgery took place. As the skull had healed from the surgical breaks, it did not completely heal in two places, and there was no bone covering my brain, just skin. So they covered up those holes with some medical something, and tried to make my temples samller. This operation was performed by Louis C Argenta, MD. Link 1 Link 2
I've since been all but released. Dr Argenta basically told me at the age of 17, that he would like to see me in a couple of years. I haven't been able to play full contact sports due to the tender nature of my head. But I think I have a hard head. The skin on my forehead is stretched so that I cannot really feel much on it. The very top of my head has no feeling either, and there is a very noticeable 'valley' running along my scar line from ear to ear.
But as far as health wise, I have no problems from this condition now. No head-aches or dizziness or memory loss or head-aches.
Below are pictures taken when I was a child. They show the scars I had and the scares I now have as a grown adult.
Last Updated: 26 June 2006 15:06:03