Craniotomy Recovery

[JennyFaye42]

I had a craniotomy for a 3 cm meningioma in the temporal region on April 8 2013. I have recovered well but I am still having a good deal of swelling in the area of the skull flap. How long will this persist? How long will it take for the bone gap to fill in?

[Daniel M Prevedello, MD]

Hi JennyFaye42,

I agree. If you can feel the gap, it may never go away; but in general people cannot notice it. Just don't touch.;-)

thank you

[JennyFaye42]

Thank you so much for the advice and reassurance!

[tiredbuthappy]

glad to hear you are recovering so well! It may take many months for all of that to resolve. I am 2 years out and can still fell the gap on my forehead. I can trace my finger around the exact hole that was cut because i can feel it through the skin. But, it is not noticeable if you look at it. My swelling started to go down between 1 and 2 months and that is when I started to be able to feel the gap and the screws. the swelling is likely normal. Sleeping with your head elevated can help keep some of the swelling down, as can making sure you are taking it easy and not overdoing it. At 1 month out, I was still very limited in what I could do.