Question:
I have large ears that stick out. I’m a woman and I feel like this is particularly noticeable and unattractive. I’ve consulted with one surgeon who has said that he would just pin back the ears and not change the size or shape at all. I really have my heart set on having them smaller as well and I was wondering if this is common practice to just pin them back.

Answer:
In the far majority of patients, all we need to do is reshape the ear so that it will not stick out away from the head so much and this alone will create a very natural appearance and make the far majority of patients extremely happy.  For a select group of patients that actually have overly large ears, we can perform a type of ear reduction procedure where cartilage is actually removed and reshaped so that not only the ear is set back closer to the head, but also the ear is actually smaller.  This is extremely uncommon but, nonetheless, it does occur occasionally and ultimately I need to evaluate your actual ears and the anatomy thereof then make a decision as to what would be best in your particular circumstance.  

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Question:
How long will it be after my otoplasty surgery before I can wash my hair?

Answer:
After otoplasty I typically place a pressure bandage around the ears overnight and the following day this can be removed and patients can go ahead and wash their hair that day since the incisions as that point in time should be watertight.  I recommend a small amount of antibiotic ointment to the incision on the back of the ear; otherwise, they can resume non-strenuous activities immediately.

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Question: I’m considering otoplasty for my son. We’re from Sheboygan. I’d like to know if ears that stick out ever improve as children age.

Answer: No, unfortunately ears that stick out rarely if ever improve as children age.  There have been a variety of different studies done looking at the growth of children’s ears and though there may be some promise to using ear molds at an extremely young age, such as under one year old, to improve upon the shape of the ear, overall nonsurgical methods are not very effective.

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Question: How common is revision surgery after ear surgery?

Answer: It is overall relatively uncommon to require a revision after an otoplasty, but occasionally a suture will break or a knot may come loose and end up allowing some recurrence of the prominence of the ear.  This is relatively simple to correct but, again, overall this is not very likely to be necessary.

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Question: I’d like to get otoplasty. Are there degrees to how much the ears are pinned back? I don’t want them to be flat against my head, I just don’t want them to stick out as much.

Answer: Yes, the otoplasty procedure is obviously customized for each individual’s ears so that we create a very natural-appearing ear that is not overly flat or pinned against the skull but has a normal degree of prominence but does not have the look of overly prominent ears.

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