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Comment by asia92 | Hacker News Reader

what exactly do you mean by alien head? not offended, just curious

I can’t post the specific child’s picture as it wasn’t posted publicly and I wouldn’t want to disrespect them, but here’s some examples of less severe hydrocephalus you’ll see often in spina bifida parenting groups [0] [1]. Often people don’t comment on ones like that as everyone wants to get along but if it’s left untreated it can eventually progress to be much more severe and cause debilitating headaches and mental retardation. Interestingly, in googling this apparently low pressure cerebrospinal fluid headaches are also a thing [2], so keeping just the right amount of cerebrospinal fluid draining is a must.

[0] https://www.hydroassoc.org/people-view/wylie-6-months/

[1] https://www.travelblog.org/Photos/253290

[2] https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseas...

You can google "hydrocephalus", though I should warn the images can be a bit disturbing

At least in the US, early intervention allows doctors to recommend shunts so extreme cases of hydrocephalus can be avoided and head sizes normalize a bit as kids grow. The photos are usually from med textbooks and for teaching future doctors and usually demonstrating the extreme forms.

Let’s not say alien head. My biggest worry as a young dad was my child being called names because of his head circumference. He too was born with HC.

> Let’s not say alien head.

To be clear, I never said that and agree the term shouldn't be used at all.

I believe they mean enlarging of the fontanelle as is typical in those with hydrocephalus.

a physically large head, shaped similarly to a stereotypical alien head

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