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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Question: I had otoplasty surgery a few days ago. One of my ears is bleeding nonstop, not a lot but it’s still not stopping. Is this normal or should I be concerned?

Answer: It is certainly not normal to have excessive bleeding after an otoplasty but after the local anesthetic wears off, it is not uncommon to have some temporary oozing of blood from the site.  Typically, I just recommend placing some gauze on the area and applying gentle pressure as this virtually always will allow the bleeding to stop spontaneously.  If the bleeding continues despite these efforts, I would contact your surgeon and consider going into an urgent care facility for evaluation or to the office for an evaluation.  I personally have never had a patient where this was necessary, but obviously we want to get this bleeding under control. 

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Question: If I have my otoplasty surgery done in the winter, is it okay to wear hats that cover the ears during recovery?

Answer: It is perfectly fine to wear hats that cover the ears as long as they are not putting a significant amount of pressure on the ears during the recovery period.  In fact, it would be wise to protect the ears due to the fact that they would be slightly more at risk of frostbite after the otoplasty, and we certainly would not want to traumatize the ears accidentally during the recovery phase.  The hat would, therefore, not only protect it from the cold but also from any sort of trauma.

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