Celebrating our 500th LOCband Lite patient

Just over two years since the LOCband Lite’s launch, we’ve successfully treated our 500th helmet therapy patient with our innovative 3D-printed cranial band.

Meet Billy (and his mother, Laura) who recently completed his helmet therapy treatment for positional plagiocephaly. To celebrate the occasion, we gave Laura a bouquet of flowers and vouchers. It comes just over a year since we celebrated our 250th LOCBand Lite patient.

Billy and Laura were very happy to come back to see us again post treatment, as well as celebrating Billys 1st birthday! Billy left with some balloons marking the occasion as well as a birthday gift from us.

Laura and her partner noticed there was something wrong with Billy’s head shape when he was about 8 weeks old. He preferred sleeping on his left. For a time Billy was in the care of a paediatric osteopath and for a couple of days after each session there was an improvement in Billy’s head shape but he always reverted to sleeping the way he wanted to. There were no sessions over Christmas and the New Year and by now Billy’s head shape was a lot worse. Laura’s partner had heard of ‘helmets’ being used to correct head shape, so Laura began researching the subject and found LOC.

Cranial remoulding (or ‘helmet’) therapy, is considered the primary treatment for babies with moderate to severe positional plagiocephaly (also known as ‘flat head syndrome’). Each LOCband Lite is manufactured individually for each baby, according to their exact measurements and specifications. After several months of wear, it can help to normalise a baby’s head shape.

Laura recalls: “Billy’s head shape was measured, and he was found to have severe right sided plagiocephaly with right anterior ear shift and right frontal bossing. LOC just gave us the facts in an understandable way, there was no pressure to commit to treatment and for us it was a straightforward decision.” Billy’s cranial vault asymmetry was in fact 20mm; this measurement compares the right and left diagonals at 30 degrees from the centre of the head (front to back) and subtracting one from the other gives the asymmetry value. Less than 6mm is regarded as being within the normal range of head shape, anything over 12mm is deemed to be very severe.

As far as the treatment itself goes, Laura was surprised by how seamless it all was: “After the first 24 hours Billy barely noticed he was wearing a helmet and he really enjoyed coming to see George (senior orthotist), George was great with Billy and very reassuring to me.

Because measurements are taken at the scheduled review appointments, you quickly know whether the treatment is working, when you see that the asymmetry is reducing by a couple of millimetres, it really is such a relief. The visual difference at the end of treatment was really quite stark. We are so pleased with the end result.”

Billy’s discharge reports showcase the kind of results that the LOCband Lite consistently delivers. In just six months, Billy’s asymmetry reduced significantly, going from an initial measurement of 20 mm (which would be classed as very severe) to 7 mm.

You can see his head scans before and after his treatment below which showcase the visible difference helmet therapy can achieve. Billy had done very well all the way through treatment being very cheery every appointment, outside of clinic Billy was happily attending nursery and shrugging off the heat waves of summer while wearing the helmet for 23 hours a day.