Craniosynostosis (from cranio, cranium; + syn, together; + ostosis relating to bone) is a condition in which one or more of the fibrous sutures in an infant skull prematurely fuses by ossification, thereby changing the growth pattern of the skull. Because the skull cannot expand perpendicular to the fused suture, it compensates by growing more in the direction perpendicular to the open sutures. The resulting growth pattern provides the necessary space for the growing brain, but results in an abnormal head shape and sometimes abnormal facial features...