ABSTRACT
The plates of the skull meet along suture lines. Where the suture line traverses the top of the skull there are two soft areas, fontanelles: an anterior fontanelle and a posterior fontanelle. If the part of the skull presenting first during birth includes the fontanelle, and this is not recognised during vaginal examination, the Ventouse unit may be inappropriately applied directly over the fontanelle. There have been reports of the fontanelle tissue being sucked up into the suction cap and with it brain tissue, causing considerable local brain damage.
