Otoplasty or Ear Surgery

Prominent ears can cause suffering, especially during childhood, when children go to school. It is also important for older people, adults, who have gone through this in the past. However, a simple surgery can solve this problem.

Before proceeding to do the surgery we have to determine if the ears are pushed forward because of a lack of a fold crease, called antihelix. It could also be due to a prominent concha auriculae, which is the concave area that goes from the pinna to the outer ear canal. Sometimes, a prominent ear has both of these characteristics: lack of antihelix and prominent concha auriculae.

Once the assessment is done, we will proceed with the surgery.

In the first place we draw the antihelix, bending the pinna backwards. Subsequently, we apply a small amount of local anesthesia, in case of adults. If it is a child, we apply sedation since they would not stand local anesthesia.

Then, we proceed to mark the cartilage with needles with ink, in the area where we want it to bend. After this, we remove a small ellipse of skin from the back of the ear, including the marked areas. Subsequently, we weaken the part of the cartilage we want to bend and form the antihelix. There are several techniques to do this: Moustarde, Davis, etc.

The next 15 days, a bandage or a tennis band must be worn to prevent the cartilage from going back to the initial position.

It is not very painful, thus, discomfort is easily controlled with analgesics and anti-inflammatories.