Metopic suture synostosis affects the middle area of the baby's forehead, and a region extending from the root of the nose to the anterior fontanelle. Both anterior lobes expand forward and sideways. The eyes remain more contiguous due to the sliding of the eye sockets towards each other. Premature suture closure causes the baby to form an upward bump or midline ridge. The forehead slants backwards and appears triangular when viewed from overhead. A protrusion appears behind the head since this is the direction of brain growth.
The treatment of metopic suture synostosis is done through a single incision on the midline, just behind the newborn's hair line. Endoscopes are used to elevate the baby's scalp over the suture from the anterior fontanel down to the root of the nose. As soon as a small hole is opened in the skull, endoscopes go under the bone and are used to see the bone under the affected suture. A small rod bone (0.7 mm) is generally removed from the nose to the anterior fontanel so that the narrowed closed suture is released.
CLINICAL STUDY
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32929979/
Laura Roider 1, Garrett Ungerer 1, Leslie Shock 2, Kristina Aldridge 3 4, Mohannad Al-Samarraie 5, Tomoko Tanaka 6, Arshad Muzaffar 7 8
Abstract
Objective: The purpose of this project was to study the incidence of ophthalmologic findings which are known to be risk factors for amblyopia in children who have coexisting metopic suture abnormalities and deformational plagiocephaly (DP) and brachycephaly (DB).
Conclusions: In our patient population, children with coexisting metopic suture abnormalities and DP or DB had significant risk for amblyopia, strabismus, and refractive errors.
Keywords: brachycephaly; craniosynostosis; deformational; metopic; ophthalmology; plagiocephaly.