COSMETIC OTOPLASTY

Otoplasty or pinnaplasty or bat ear corrective surgery is performed to reshape and recon-struct the ear. Protruding ears can affect confidence and self esteem and can be the un-fortunate reason for bullying in younger years.

85% of the ear is formed by 3 years old and children as young as 6 or 7 can have their ears addressed to prevent name calling in school and potential psychological disturb-ance in later years. However the operation can be done up to any age.

Mr Kassam specialises in facial plastic surgery and will discuss what you want to achieve and show before and after photos. It is a relatively straight forward procedure with a high satisfaction rate.

There are 2 main reasons that lead to protruding ears. The first being an underdeveloped anti-helical fold and the second being excess cartilage which essentially pushes the hel-ical rim forward. Typically in cosmetic otoplasty both are addressed to some extent. It is rare to address just one part of the ear normally. Both the abnormalities lead to the ear sitting further away from the skull.

What to expect

The operation is done either under local anaesthesia or general anaesthesia as a day-case and typically takes around 2-3 hours to perform and downtime is around 1 week. You will be asked to wear a head bandage for 24-48 hrs and then a supporting head band or sports band at night for 2 weeks thereafter. You will be asked to sleep on your back for 2-4 weeks if possible. There will be no sutures to remove after the procedure and the incision will be hidden behind the ear and should hardly be visible after 3 months. Full recovery time is 6 weeks. Vigorous exercise can be resumed at 6 weeks and final results are at 3 months.

Complications

Complications are uncommon post otoplasty but can be divided into early and late com-plications.

Early complications include postoperative haematoma, infection, skin and cartilage necrosis.

Early complications are minimised with adequate dressings post surgery and antibiotics.

Late complications include keloid or hypertrophic scarring, suture complications, numbness of the ear, ear contour irregularities and loss of correction necessitating revision surgery.

Late complications are minimised by using silicone gels postoperatively and correct suturing techniques and performing the correct operation for the patient.