Otoplasty
Why?
Otoplasty enables sticking-out ears to be corrected.
The Intervention
Performed under local anaesthesia, the otoplasty takes about two hours. It consists of making an incision behind the pinna and correcting the shape of the cartilaginous skeleton. The surgeon remodels the cartilage and, if necessary, removes a fragment of it. Thus contracted, the corner of the ear is brought closer to the head. The surgeon sutures the incision and applies a bandage in order to keep the ear in its new position.
Results and Post-Operative Treatment
Immediately after the operation, the surgeon applies a bandage around the head. Ten days later, the stitches are removed and the bandage is taken off. For the next three weeks, it is recommended that you wear a solid strip or a bandage during the night.
Work can usually be resumed ten days after the treatment of the sticking-out ears.
Know more about it
- Sticking-out ears are due to a malformation, which is hereditary, of the cartilaginous skeleton of the pinna. There are three kinds of sticking-out ears:
- The ear’s pinna is too flat: its central fold, called the anthelia, is not sufficiently formed. The correction consists of remodelling the pinna’s cartilage.
- The ears are small and round: the edge of the ear, called the helix, is not sufficiently formed. This anomaly is the hardest to correct.
- The ear has grown outwards, accentuating its sticking-out appearance: the horn of the ear is over-developed. This kind of sticking-out ears is very often associated with the two previous kinds.
- The otoplasty will of course be adapted to the desired type of correction.
- During the weeks after operation on the ears, you are advised not to do any sport or make any heavy effort. Overly high blood-pressure could indeed cause secondary haemorrhages.
- After the operation on the ears, the pinna may remain reddish, inflated and painful for a few weeks. But these symptoms will gradually disappear. As the incision is made behind the pinna, the scar is very discrete.
- The final results of an ear operation can be appreciated three months after the intervention.