Hi everyone,

I was wondering if I could get any advice or any personal experiences on flying without half of the skull due to TBI.

My boyfriend was in an accident and suffered TBI 7 months ago. Because of his injuries, they had to remove parts of his skull to relieve the pressure from the brain, however they have not fitted the synthetic skull back in. At the moment he is wearing a special helmet which protects the head that doesn't have any bone. Other than that he is healthy and well.

3 months post TBI we saw the neurosurgical team in the outpatients department and we asked about flying and he assured us it would be okay. However we didn't get it written down on paper. His cranioplasty was supposed to happen in February but has been delayed until May. He has booked a long haul flight (approx 9 hours) to visit family next week.

So I just wanted to know if anyone has flown long haul with parts of their skull missing. Any comments will be very helpful! Did they suffer any headaches or felt unwell etc.

Thanks for reading and commenting!

Coconut123,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Wow, glad to hear your boyfriend is doing well.

I don't think the missing skull issue is much to worry about. But, he should plan on a day of recovery before getting engaged in family activities. Jet Lag for TBI victims can be worse than for others. I say this assuming he has the normal post TBI struggles.

Seating choices should also be careful to avoid being jostled by other passengers.

How is he doing otherwise ? Does he have any problems cognitively or with sound or excessive stimulation ?

Are they going to make a computer 3D printed skull piece ?

The new technologies are amazing.

My best to you.

Hi Mark,

Thank you for replying!

Yeah he does suffer from fatigue but it has improved a lot over the last few months. He can now go the whole day without a nap or anything of that kind. With regards to cognitive, he had only suffered from memory loss and problem solving but we had an occupational therapist come for a few months to help him with that. She discharged him last month as she was completly happy with his progress and said she was happy for him to go back to work and his normal routine .

They've done CT scans and have the plate ready to put back in. It's a synthetic material similar to bone, and yes technology these days are amazing!