What are protruding ears?
Protruding
ears are the most frequent disorders of the ears. Prominent ears are
ears that are perceived as sticking out too far from the side of the
head and can cause a severe psychological problem in men and women, boys
and girls. A lot of people find different ways to cover them with their
hair and they even avoid to go to the beach or expose their ears.
Otoplasty
(plastic surgery of the ear) is the term used for the correction
technique. People who are concerned about the appearance of their ears
may eventually resort to otoplasty surgery to correct any perceived
prominence. It is considered to be a routine surgery performed by most
of plastic surgeons.
What is the problem?
The
problem of a protruding ear is mainly anatomical. Specifically, in a
natural ear, helix and antihelix should be smooth and form an angle of
90 °. In protruding ears, this angle is not well-defined (greater than
90 °) and often the antihelix is absent, thus giving the image of a
prominent ear. A second cause is the presence of large and deep concha,
thereby pushing the ear out and forward.
At what age should someone with protruding ears undergo surgery?
Otoplasty
in children, can be done in the immediate pre-school age of 5-6 years.
This can help prevent any psychological trauma that teasing at school
can cause. In adults, there is no age restriction.
What kind of anesthesia is used?
The
ear plastic surgery can be done under local anesthesia. Local
anesthetic is injected into the ear so it will get numb for about two to
three hours. Very thin needles are used to reduce pain that may be
caused during the injection. Thus, the intervention of otoplasty is a
virtually painless procedure.
However,
if the patient does not cooperate (usually children between 5-12 years
old) sedation is required or even general anesthesia. Otoplasty can be
performed as an outpatient. This means that on the day of plastic
surgery you may leave the hospital or the clinic.
Which technique is used?
There
are several techniques with many variations that can be used.
Correction can be carried out only with sutures, with the removal of
cartilage, thinning or scratching of cartilage or a combination of all
the above.
You
should be aware that the more invasive a technique is, the greater the
risk for complications. It has not been established scientifically, the
superiority of a technique over the other regarding long term results
yet. For this reason, it is always attempted to correct the problem with
sutures (the less invasive method) and only in special cases by
removing or scratching the cartilage.
