Otoplasty Gallery

An early (6-week) follow-up on a mid-teen with prominent ears.  She had the formation of her anti-helical fold with a combination of cartilage rasping with the Dingman otoabrader and Mustarde sutures.  The concha was reduced with direct excision of cartilage. She is thrilled with her early result.  

A woman in her mid 30’s with a complete split of her left earlobe.  She sleeps with her earrings in and also has a nickel allergy.  She is shown before and again, 3 months after repair in the office. 

She is shown again, just after re-piercing.  A titanium earring was used because of her nickel allergy.

A woman in her later 70’s with a complete split of her left earlobe on two occasions in the past.  She does sleep with her earrings in.  She is shown just before repair, and again, just after re-piercing in the office. She did not want an earlobe lift at this time, which would have required a matching lift on the opposite ear.

An early ( 4 day) follow-up on a bilateral otoplasty patient in her mid-teens.  She was bothered by prominent ears and had been trying to hold them back with double stick tape but it fell off during sports.  She has been teased because of her ears.

She has the typical combination of a poorly formed ante-helical fold and prominence of the conchal bowl.  I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work directly with Dr. Reed Dingman at the University of Michigan who developed the Dingman oto-abrader, a device to weaken the “spring” of the cartilage that we still use to this day.

She is shown immediately after removing the bandages.  There is obviously bruising and swelling from the surgery that will fade over the next 6 weeks.  She is absolutely thrilled with the new contour of her ears

Our patient is seen at 6 weeks.  The redness of surgery is starting to fade and she has an excellent contour of her ears. 

A man in his later 40’s who is bothered by prominence of his right ear.  He was born with prominent ears and had surgery on his right ear by another plastic surgeon 20 years ago but the top and bottom of the ear continued to stick out and bothered him when he wears his hair short.  On examination, the anti-helical fold was diminished and the earlobe was prominent.  I recreated his anti-helical fold with Mustarde sutures and rasping of the cartilage with the Dingman oto-abrader- Dr. Dingman was one of my professors at the University of Michigan and designed a special rasp- when the perichondrium ( the cover of the cartilage) is disrupted it breaks the “spring” of the cartilage and allows it to hold the new position better. Our patient is shown just before and again, 6 weeks after correction

A woman in her early 60’s who has been bothered by prominence of her ears and would like to be able to wear her hair up. She is shown before and again, nearly 5 months after bilateral otoplasty.

A man in his mid 20’s who is bothered by prominence of his ears who would like to feel more comfortable wearing his hair short. His preoperative measurements are shown and compared to the normal. He is shown before and again, 5 months after bilateral otoplasty

Update: Our patient is now seen more than 1 year after his surgery. He has maintained an excellent contour and the redness has completely faded

A woman in her later 40’s who has been bothered by prominent ears since she was younger. She is shown before and again, 7 weeks after bilateral otoplasty. She is thrilled to have a normal contour of her ears and now feels comfortable wearing her hair up.

Update: Our patient is now seen 8 months after surgery.  Scars have faded and the ears have maintained their correction