Dr Owase Jeelani: 'Children used to die of this. Now they can lead a normal life'

My toughest case

I'm the lead neurosurgeon for the craniofacial unit at Great Ormond Street Hospital, where we treat babies born with skulls that aren't growing properly.

Babies have growth lines in between the bones in their face and head to allow the skull to grow along with the brain, the eyes and everything else. In some children – and we don't quite understand why – all or some of these growth lines are fused. The baby is forming normally otherwise, the eyes and brain are growing, but the bony sockets and the bony cage for the eyes and the brain just aren't; the skull is rigid.

In the past these children would often die. Over the past few decades surgeons would elect to remove huge chunks of their skull to make space for the brain but these were huge operations on small infants.

Then we came up with a simple idea here at Great Ormond Street. We thought, if the natural growth lines aren't working, then why not try an artificial spring instead? We surgically cut in between the two plates of bone and open up the suture and put an artificial stainless steel spring in, a bit like a door spring. That then gradually opens up and makes the skull bigger, doing what the natural spring should have done.

We first started doing this operation here in 2008 and we've done about 100-odd cases so far. Before, we'd have to tell the parents that their child was going to die or live with severe deformity. Now they can lead a relatively normal life.

One child was born last year with a brain that was extremely compressed; the head was a very odd shape, it was almost like a clover leaf, with three lumps. We put in the springs and remoulded the skull to a more regular shape and thereby providing the brain ample room to grow.

The other problem this child had was that the eyes kept popping out; literally falling out onto the cheeks because of a lack of space. By making room for the brain, the pressure at the back of the eyes was reduced as well.

She was one of the worst cases we'd seen over the last three years. Now we'll monitor her throughout her growing life, until she's 18 years of age. By then the craniofacial skeleton has matured and grown fully. We have to keep a close eye of her for if she were to run out of space again she would need the above surgery repeated.

Some children only need this skull vault expansion surgery once whilst other may need it to be repeated on more than one occasion. Here at GOSH we monitor all such children during their developmental years closely to ensure that should they require this treatment again, it is delivered in an expedient fashion. With such intensive monitoring and timely interventions, these children are given a chance to lead normal, fulfilling lives.

The Theatres for Theatres Appeal has raised vital funds towards two new state-of-the-art operating theatres at Great Ormond Street Hospital for children who require specialist neurosurgery. www.gosh.org/theatres-for-theatres