This is subperiosteal haemorrhage due to rupture of blood vessels  most often due to traumatic delivery

Most commonly seen in the parietal or frontal bone area

 

Clinical features

• Swelling appears and increases over the days after birth

• This swelling can be unilateral just over the place of traumatic delivery

• The swelling is limited to one cranial bone

• Sharp demarcated boundaries are palpable   

Investigations

• By radiological finding, the swelling begins to calcify by 2nd week

• It can appear as cystic defects over the years

Treatment

• No treatment- Most cephalhematoma are absorbed by 6- 12 weeks

• Control jaundice by phototherapy

Complications

• Anemia/ Jaundice

• Abscess formation of cephalhematoma

• Fracture during traumatic delivery should be ruled out