People who have protruding ears may be a subject of ridicule. If they are too large, they may be called elephants. Ears may be folded, small or funny looking. In the olden days Kings used to cut off the ears of people who committed mistakes or offences and this was their punishment. All such cases can be improved by otoplasty which is a surgical procedure to improve the appearance of the ears.
If a baby is born with defective outer ears, the parents can decide to go in for otoplasty. This is a safe and easy method of correcting the disfigurement. Long ear lobes can be shortened, wrinkled ears can be straightened and protruding ears can be set back near the head. The patient or his parents have to discus the procedure and the options available in great detail with the operating surgeon. Otoplasty is a corrective surgery and one has to be realistic and not expect miracles. Most patients are perfectly satisfied with the results of otoplasty.
The operation takes about three to four hours and is generally done on an outpatient basis. Whether the anesthesia given is local or total depends on the doctor and the patient. Small incisions are made behind the ears and the skin is lifted to reveal the cartilage inside. A part of the patient’s own cartilage from another part of the body can be used to increase the size of a small ear. If the ear is too big, part of the cartilage can be cut. If the ear lobes are big, they too can be reduced by surgery and stitched. If the ears are protruding, they can be shifted back and pinned to the head. After the corrections to the ears are done, stitches are used to cover the wound. The doctor may use absorbable ones or removable ones. The removable stitches are removed after eight days.
After the operation the ears are heavily bandaged. This prevents them from getting accidentally hurt or traumatized. The heavy bandage will remain for eight days. The person may feel groggy due to the anesthesia but children mostly get back to normal within a few hours. The ears may hurt or get irritated. Any unexpected or untoward happening should be reported to the doctor. The lighter bandage is applied after eight days. Recovery after an otoplasty is complete after a couple of weeks though the full results of the surgery will be visible only after a few months. Most people are happy with the result. |
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