Cartilage ear surgery

Problems related to ear sizes and their shape, cause lot of discomfort and grief to the affected persons. In case of children this is more pronounced as they are subject to a lot of teasing and trouble from their fellow class mates or play mates.

Protruding ears or ears that stick out are very visible and cause embarrassing moments during social interactions.

Cartilage ear surgery is the answer to such problems, as this is a simple procedure to correct the ear size by trimming or reshaping the cartilage or by pinning it back and thus moving the ear closer to the head.

Cartilage ear surgery, sometimes also called otoplasty, is a minor surgery and can be performed for children beyond the age of six or seven (Consultations with the doctor and their approval is necessary).

At young ages, the cartilage is very flexible and is easy to mould. In case of adults, surgeons will first make the cartilage soft or weak so that it is more flexible and then carry on with the ear surgery.

During the most common form of cartilage ear surgery, the surgeon places a small incision at the back of the ear, and thus exposes the ear cartilage.

After this is done, he makes small cuts or changes to the ear cartilage and bends it back towards the head. This way the ear is pinned back toward the head. In other cases, cartilage might not be cut, but a similar incision will be placed and skin will be removed as necessary.

The cartilage will be folded and stitched as required and reshaped. Even in cases where only one ear has problems, normally cartilage ear surgery will be performed on both ears in order to get a symmetrical look.

In normal cases, the cartilage ear surgery might take about a couple of hours, and in most cases patients will be able to walk away from the surgery.

The recovery process is also pretty simple. Soft dressing will be placed over the ears to protect them. Sometimes heavy dressing will be placed to hold the ear back in place.

This has to be kept for about a week and then will be replaced by a lighter dressing. After a couple of weeks, patients will be advised to wear head bands (similar to tennis bands).

The cartilage ear surgery procedure is normally a pretty safe one and has been tested and performed over the years in large numbers. It is a simple procedure and the recovery times are also less.

The incision during the cartilage ear surgery might leave a light scar behind the ear. This will not be very visible and will normally tend to fade away over time.

Contact us