Otoplasty

Prominent ears can be a major source of anxiety and can be used as a source of ridicule. A subtle change in the shape of the ears can produce dramatic results, both from a psychological point of view and physically. It is common for parents to be concerned about their children’s ears many years before the child notices anything, however it is not wise to perform surgery without having the support of your child. Many parents request to have the surgery performed before their child goes to school, but if your child is too young and doesn’t understand why they are having surgery, then they will not tolerate the head bandage or the dressings and may well compromise the final result.

It is far better to wait until your child is able to understand what they are having done and actually requests that something be done about their ears. Many people go through to adulthood with prominent ears and are quite happy with their appearance, so it is important to have the backing of your child before having anything done. It is for this reason that I prefer to wait until the child is at least 6 years old and is requesting to have something done, before considering surgery. However, the younger the child, the more likely that a general anaesthetic will be needed and so if they are able to wait until they are older, then there is a possibility that they may be able to have their ears corrected under local anaesthesia.

There are many adults who come requesting prominent ear correction and it may be one or both ears. The procedure is the same, but it is often possible to perfom the surgery under local anaesthetic in adults, as long as you are prepared to be on the operating table for about an hour.

It seems appealing to try to ‘tape’ the ears back or hold them back in some way, but this does not really work after about the first month of life. Splinting the ears can work, but it is essential that it is started early in life while the cartilage of the ear is still soft. This means that it should really be started as close to birth as possible, as the sooner you start, the less time you will need your child to wear the splint. After your child is one month old, the results are less effective and you will need your child to wear the splint for longer.

There are reports of older children and even adults, using splints to correct prominent ears but the splints have to be worn for a long periods, such as many months and even years, and this is not something that is really practised in this country.

Otoplasty surgery involves reshaping the cartilage of the ear and is a permanent solution.

There are always potential risks of complications following surgery and these will be discussed with your surgeon.  Very occasionally, when sutures are used to secure the position of the cartilage, there may be a recurrence of the deformity, but this is not a common and there is always the possibility of further surgery to correct this.

No.  This is another misconception about prominent ear correction.  Otoplasty involves reshaping of the natural cartilage of the ear to bring it back in to a position so that it is sitting closer to your head.

This is done by moulding the cartilage and sculpting a renewed ear shape.  The ear is not pinned back to the side of the head and the term ‘ear pinning’ is not accurate because we take care not to over-correct the shape of the ear which may result in an unnatural look.

The goal is to create a natural looking ear that is in proportion with your face.

In order to perform an otoplasty, we need to expose the cartilage of your ear so that we can reshape it.

However, we are very conscious about avoiding any visible scarring and so we make the scar behind the ear so that it is hidden and once it has faded, it is difficult to see.

Otoplasty is the most comprehensive way of correction of prominent ears and so there will be a scar, but if you want a transformation to the shape of your ears, then the subtle scar behind the ear is often an acceptable trade off.

You can find out more about otoplasty as well as the prices for surgery at The STAIANO Clinic, by clicking this link and we will send you details.