Collection of blood beneath the scalp of a newborn caused by pressure during birth.
A birth injury in which a hemorrhage forms underneath the periosteum, the membrane covering the baby’s skull. Swelling is usually not visible until several hours after birth. Rarely, a cephalhematoma is a sign of an underlying skull fracture. Such fractures are usually the result of injuries caused by the stresses of birth, such as pressure applied with forceps or vacuum extraction. Depending on their size, most cephalhematomas are absorbed within 2 weeks to 3 months, though a few remain for some years as bumps on the skull. They generally require no treatment.
An egg-sized swelling on the head caused by a collection of bloody fluid between one of the skull bones (usually the parietal bone) and its covering membrane (periosteum). It is most commonly seen in newborn infants delivered with the aid of forceps or subjected to pressures during passage through the birth canal. No treatment is necessary and the swelling disappears in a few weeks. A cephalhematoma in an older baby or child is evidence of some recent injury to the head; occasionally an unsuspected fracture is revealed on X-ray.
A pool of blood typically found under the scalp of a newborn baby, caused by pressure experienced during childbirth.