Hi everyone I was just wondering if bone flaps ever fuse back to the skull? Or do we have to live the rest of our lives making sure we don’t bang our heads!
My neurosurgeon told me, that the bone flap fuses back to the skull and that after 12 months the skull is just as stable as it was before craniotomy.
But I had a craniectomy, and my bone flap was removed for 3months 
do you know if its the same?
It is my understanding, having the unfortunate experience that both my wife and son have had craniotomies, is prior to placing the flap back in, they bore holes in the skull and flap near the joint, then stitch them together while adding "bone dust" (no clue what that is) and a cement or growth type stuff to aid in the regrowth.
Obviously in the short term (months), you don't want to bang your head, but after that, think you're good as new.
Hope this helps.
Ron, KS
I think it's the same (don't take my word for it though). My surgeon told me that the bone flap is stronger after it fuses (?). As for a craniectomy, I honestly can't see a difference once it's reattached to your skull. I only did so much research but there's a flap removed for both procedures, one is just put back in later. Idk though, its only been a year and a halfsince my crani (May 2011) but I'm still nervous about bumping my head. I've bumped my head two times and once a small pine jewelry box fell on my head but nothing happened, just a super sore spot all three times.
Hi Kyle-at my last follow-up Neuro. apptm. a few months ago, he told me that everything was replaced-I think that I might have been told differently earlier-so I got the bonus “you’ve got 5-heads” look-things that make you go hmmm?
Anyway, I remember a similar discussion, so did a search on “bone flap” and quite a few threads came up-you might try that function on here.