Skull Sutures

Sutures are the wavy, fibrous joints between the bones of the cranium. The main ones are the coronal suture across the front, the sagittal suture along the top, the lambdoid suture at the back and the squamosal sutures around the temples. They allow the skull to grow in childhood and gradually fuse in adult life.

Key facts

The four main sutures are coronal, sagittal, lambdoid and squamosal (paired).
Their zigzag edges interlock, making the joint strong.
In infancy they are soft and allow the skull to expand as the brain grows.
They fuse progressively with age — the process is used (roughly) to estimate age in anthropology.
The point where coronal and sagittal sutures meet is called the bregma.

What can go wrong

If a suture fuses too early in a baby (craniosynostosis), the skull grows in a distorted shape because it cannot expand across the closed joint; this is usually treated with surgery in infancy. In adults, sutures cause no symptoms — their importance is mainly as landmarks for imaging and surgery.

Related procedures & tests

CT head scan

Frequently asked questions

Do skull sutures ever fully disappear?

They narrow and bone over gradually from early adulthood onwards, but the process is slow and variable — many older adults still show clear suture lines on scans.

What is craniosynostosis?

Early fusion of one or more skull sutures in a baby. Because the skull cannot grow across a fused suture, it grows more in other directions, producing a characteristic head shape that specialists assess.

Educational information only. This atlas explains normal anatomy and describes conditions in general terms; it is not medical advice and does not replace assessment by a qualified clinician. If you have symptoms that worry you, seek medical care.