Two Lee County assistant principals are relieved because their one-year-old son no longer has to wear a helmet that was reshaping his head for 23 hours a day. The helmet was created using a 3-D laser scanner in Fort Myers.
Jasper Biggar was born with tightness in his neck, causing his head to favor one side more than the other. After about three months, that limited range of motion led to plagiocephaly-- also called “flat head syndrome.” Experts say between 15 and 20 percent of children get it.
Jasper’s head was basically flat on the left side.
"So when he's sleeping or in the car seat, his head's gonna be one side so there's gonna be more pressure on the head-- it's gonna flatten out," said Andrew Biggar, Jasper's dad.
Jasper’s mom, Andrea Schillinger, said she was very anxious when she first found out about her son’s condition.
"There was a lot of emotion-- more so fear that they would go for the surgery rather than doing the cranial band," she said.
Sometimes baby’s skulls harden prematurely, which would require surgery. But that wasn’t the case for Jasper. His pediatrician recommended a specialist who then recommended The Hanger Clinic in Fort Myers.
A helmet, or cranial band, is most effective when a baby is between six and nine months old, while the head is still developing. It’s made of plastic to give it a rigid shape and is lined with a half inch of foam to protect the skin.
Orthotist Peter DiPaolo has been fitting Jasper’s helmet since November. At Jasper's last appointment, DiPaolo distracted the toddler with a toy that lit up and spun.
"Babies tend to get really, really mesmerized by this," DiPaolo said about the toy.
If Jasper moves too much, the infrared scanner won’t get a good read of his head shape.
Jasper had a sock over his head with holes cut out for his face and ears. There was a wired receiver taped to the head-sock.
"The receiver is what talks to the computer and then here is my wand that actually shines the infrared light onto his head and reflects back onto the camera, then transfers that to a shape on the computer," said DiPaolo.
Jasper wore his helmet for more than five months.
"We're gonna do a final scan and we're gonna compare the original scan with this scan and you can visually-- not only with measurements-- you can visually see the result we got," said DiPaolo.
DiPaolo used the original 3-D image of Jasper’s head to create the helmet. He did follow-up scans to review his progress.
On DiPaolo’s computer, an image of Jasper’s first scan is to the left of his new one.
"You could see how much more rounded his head is... significant less of a flattening," he said. "Measurements are incredible but pictures speak a thousand words."
The pictures show more than half of the flattening has been reduced.
"The biggest relief about it is that there's not gonna be any complications because we've been so proactive in the beginning," said Andrew Biggar.
Jasper’s parents, both educators, get an “A+" from Peter DiPaolo.
"When I first started, parents were more shy about using a helmet. They didn't want to bring their child out in public," said DiPaolo.
But he said in the last ten years, he’s seen a growth in helmet use.
"It's become more prevalent and it’s more diagnosed so they’re using them more now more than ever," he said.
Jasper’s mom, Andrea Schillinger, said she enjoys educating people about the helmet.
"We could be walking through target and we'd get stopped and asked questions," she said.
At the end of the appointment, DiPaolo made an announcement.
"Now we're going to say he's graduated and doesn’t need the helmet anymore, " he said.
Schillinger says they’re going to keep the helmet.
"We talked about painting it. We talked about getting some signatures on it. But I think, ultimately, we decided that we're gonna leave it as is. Then he'll know what it was like when he had it," she said.
DiPaolo said Jasper may not remember any of this, but he hopes Jasper will one day thank his parents for his round head.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H7zTWnddCA
