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Changes in the skull after birth
Last reviewed: 06.07.2025
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In the growth of the skull after birth, three main periods can be traced. The first period - up to the age of 7 - is characterized by vigorous growth of the skull, especially in the occipital part.
During this period, in the first year of a child's life, the thickness of the skull bones increases approximately 3 times. In the bones of the vault, the outer and inner plates begin to form, with diploe between them. The mastoid process of the temporal bone develops, and in it - the mammillary cells. In the growing bones, the ossification points continue to merge. A bony external auditory canal is formed, which by the age of 5 closes into a bone ring. By the age of 7, the fusion of parts of the frontal bone is complete, parts of the ethmoid bone grow together.
In the second period - from 7 years to the onset of puberty (12-13 years) - there is a slow but uniform growth of the skull, especially in the base area. The cranial vault is still growing rapidly, especially at 6-8 and 11-13 years. The volume of the cranial cavity by 10 years reaches 1300 cm 3. By 13 years, the squamosal-mastoid suture is overgrown. At this age, the fusion of individual parts of the skull bones, developing from independent ossification points, is basically complete.
The third period (from 13 to 20-23 years) is characterized by growth mainly of the facial part of the skull, the appearance of sexual differences. After 13 years, further thickening of the skull bones occurs. Pneumatization of the bones continues, as a result of which the mass of the skull decreases relatively while maintaining its strength. By the age of 20, the sutures between the sphenoid and occipital bones ossify. The growth of the base of the skull in length by this time ends.
After 20 years, especially after 30 years, gradual overgrowth of the cranial vault sutures is observed. The sagittal suture begins to overgrow first, its posterior part (22-35 years), then the coronal suture - in the middle part (24-41 years), lambdoid (26-42 years), mammillary-occipital (30-81 years); the squamous suture rarely overgrows (V.V. Ginzburg). The process of overgrowth of the sutures is individual. There are cases when all the sutures of the skull were well defined in old people. In old age, along with the overgrowth of the sutures, gradual changes in the facial skull are observed. Due to the abrasion and loss of teeth, the alveolar processes (alveolar arches) of the jaws decrease. The facial skull shortens. The bones of the skull become thinner and more fragile.
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