Conditions treated by the Craniofacial Unit

The Craniofacial Unit at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) is one of four supra-regional funded centres in England. Our multidisciplinary team diagnoses and treats all forms of craniosynostosis as well as other conditions affecting the skull and face. The skull is made up of several ‘plates’ of bone which, when we are born, are not tightly joined together. The seams where the plates join are called ‘sutures’. As we grow older, the sutures gradually fuse (stick) together, usually after all head growth has finished. When a child has craniosynostosis, the sutures fuse before birth. It can affect one suture or several.

When only one suture is affected, it is called simple or single suture craniosynostosis but when more than one suture is affected, it is called ‘complex craniosynostosis’. This may happen as part of a syndrome (collection of symptoms often seen together), and so may be referred to as ‘syndromic’ as well.

Members of the multidisciplinary team have developed the following information sheets for families explaining more about the causes, symptoms and treatment of specific craniofacial conditions.

• Lambdoid craniosynostosis
• Metopic craniosynostosis
• Sagittal craniosynostosis
• Unicoronal craniosynostosis

• Antley Bixler syndrome
• Apert syndrome
• Bicoronal craniosynostosis
• Carpenter syndrome
• Crouzon syndrome
• Freeman-Sheldon syndrome
• Muenke (P250arg) syndrome
• Nager syndrome
• New genetic forms of craniosynostosis - TCF and ERF gene mutations
• Parry-Romburg syndrome
• Pfeiffer syndrome
• Saethre-Chotzen syndrome
• Treacher-Collins syndrome

• Cranio-fronto-nasal dysplasia
• Fibrous dysplasia
• Fronto-nasal dysplasia
• Craniofacial microsomia
• Intracranial dermoid cysts
• Midfacial cleft

Members of the multidisciplinary team have developed the following information sheets for families explaining more about the surgery to treat specific craniofacial conditions and care at GOSH throughout childhood and adolescence.

• Craniofacial discharge 
• Craniofacial assessment
• Facial bipartition with or without RED frame
• Fronto-orbital remodelling
• Having a RED frame
• Looking after your baby's nasopharyngeal airway 
• Monobloc advancement with RED frame
• Open tip rhinoplasty for children with craniofacial disorders
• Orbital box osteotomies
• Spring assisted cranioplasty
• Posterior vault expansion with or without insertion of springs
• Sagittal craniectomy with barrel staving
• Total calvarial remodelling
• Transition of craniofacial patients from paediatric to adult services