Otoplasty - An Overview For Interested Patients and Parents

Whether you or your child suffers from protruding ears, there may be a solution. Otoplasty is a procedure designed to correct protruding ears. While parents of children with severe disabilities might scoff at such an aesthetic concern, there can be no question that having anything that makes you stick out in a bad way can make life miserable.

This is especially true for children. Kids don't quite understand the ramifications that come along with teasing others. These teases and taunts can destroy self esteem and set a child up for psychological problems for the rest of their life. If you want to prevent this from happening, looking into corrective surgery may be the right thing to do.

Most doctors will prefer performing otoplasty on children, because of the increased elasticity of the cartilage. Once a grown adult, ear cartilage begins to harden and it can be more difficult to make a dramatic impact with the procedure. That's not to say it can't be done or that adults are poor candidates for the surgery. It's just that it is much easier to get dramatic results for younger individuals.

Of course, the biggest prerequisites is that that patient be in overall good health. This is true for anyone undergoing surgery, whether it's minimally invasive or not. When you go in for a consultation, make sure that both you and your child (if applicable) asks any questions that you might have.

Many potential patients want to know if otoplasty gives a permanent result. The answer is an almost unqualified yes. By the same token, however, it's important to go into the procedure with an expectation of a realistic outcome. To temper expectations, you should look at before and after pictures from the doctor's portfolio. As long as you follow the directions as it pertains to recovering from the surgery, there is little reason why your ears should revert to their previous appearance. It is, however, important that any patient in recovery avoid physical contact with the ears, as injury can easily happen, thus creating unnecessary complications and potentially ruin the results.

While children are the best candidates for the surgery, most surgeons will not perform the procedure until the child is at least four to six years old. This gives the ears a chance to grow to their full size. It makes little sense to perform the surgery before that time, as further growth could affect the results. The surgery could also potentially stunt future growth, which is not something any doctor is interested in doing.