Having trouble with hideous, overly large or deformed ears? While technically not a facial feature, a person’s ears, if abnormal in some way, tend to attract unwanted attention and ruin a person’s profile. This can cause a significant degree of insecurity among those who suffer this problem. If you feel you need to improve the shape or size of your ears, an otoplasty may be in your future.

An otoplasty is the collective term for a number of cosmetic surgical procedures whose objective is to change the form and appearance of a person’s outer ear. While it is typically used to refer to the process of reducing the size of the ears or pinning back ears that protrude outwardly too far, it also covers the range of applications for restructuring, reconstructing or adding cartilage to the ear. Interestingly, many otoplasty patients are children between the ages of four to fourteen. A person’s ears are fully grown by the age of four, and an early otoplasty will prevent the treated child from becoming the target of ridicule as he or she grows up. Otoplasties are also used to help individuals who have suffered damage to their outer ears due to an injury or disease.

The process is performed under local anesthesia with sedation for milder cases, though treatment for children is normally done using general anesthesia, as the shock and trauma of a surgical procedure may be too much for them to handle at such a tender age. For the correction of protruding ears and other otoplasty procedures, incisions are typically made on the back surface of the ear. From this vantage point, the surgeon may excise surplus cartilage and reshape the cavities and folds of the external ear, pulling it backwards in the process. This involves moving the rounded cavity near the inner ear closer to the head, weakening poorly developed outer folds by creating a small tunnel in the supporting cartilage, using sutures to splice together and reform these folds, and balancing the ear lobe with the other parts of the ear. Additional incisions may be made in the front of the ear if necessary, though the cuts are made along the natural creases of the ear to minimize scarring. Afterwards, sutures will be positioned to hold the ear in place and maintain its new formation, and the ear may be covered with thick bandages to further hasten the healing process.

There are a number of otoplasties that do not require incision, but instead involve the threading of a needle through the outer ear cartilage to modify it. The needle will also be used to place the retention sutures.

Conditions such as microtia, or small ear deformity, and anotia, or missing ear deformity, are treated with reconstructive otoplasty to replace the missing or defectively formed areas. Replacement cartilage is taken from other parts of the body, such as the rib, and utilized to re-sculpt the deformity or whatever is lacking.

It will usually take up to six weeks to recover from ear surgery. However, most adults who have undergone such treatment may resume normal activities within a few days after the procedure. Children will need a longer recovery period of at least a week. Few side effects are associated with otoplasty, which is considered one of the safest cosmetic surgery procedures. In some instances, hearing may be altered or infection may set in, but these circumstances are quite rare. Immediate side effects of the treatment include itching, pain or numbness, but these can be controlled with medication and will dissipate within a few days. Once the bandages are removed after the surgery, the results of the otoplasty will be immediately evident.