Otoplasty Gallery

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

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

A woman in her later 30’s who is bothered by prominence of her ears, especially the right ear. This has been bothering her for many years. On exam, her right ear projects 20 mm at the top of the ear and the left ear 16 mm vs a normal of 10-12 mm. Her antihelical fold is diminiehsed. She is shown before and again, 6 weeks after bilateral otoplasty, with a reshaping of her antihelical fold using the Dingman otoabrader to weaken the cartilage and Mustarde sutures.

Update: Our patient is now seen 1 year after surgery.  The redness has faded and the ears have maintained their natural  contour

A man in his early 40’s who is bothered by prominence of his ears. He has recently changed his hairstyle to shave his head now that his hear is thinning and feels that his ears are even more noticeable. He is shown before and 6 weeks after bilateral otoplasty at the hospital. His antihelical folds were created using the Dingman otoabrader to rasp the anterior perichondrium under the skin and weaken the cartilage to allow it to bend ( as I was taught by Dr. Reed Dingman during my plastic surgery residency at University of Michigan) , along with excision of a crescent of cartilage from the conchal bowl and suturing to bring the ears back. He is thrilled with the improvement and happy to have a normal appearance to his ears.

Update: Our patient is now seen nearly 5 months after surgery. The redness has faded. His ears have a natural contour and are not longer prominent.

A man in his mid 30’s who is bothered by bilateral prominence of his ears. He has been bothred since he was younger and has been teased on occasion, especially when his hair is shorter
On examination his right ear protrudes 2.8 cm at the midportion ( normal is 1.6-1.8 cm) and his left ear protrudes 2.6 cm. He has prominence of the conchal bowl and a diminished antehelical fold. He is shown just 6 weeks after bilateral otoplasty. Although the incisions are behind the ear, the cartilage is rasped under the skin to reshape it along the new fold and He has some mild discoloration of the skin on each ear which should continue to improve over the next few months as the healing progresses. He is already thrilled to have a normal appearance to his ears.