Pinned-Back Otoplasty – Softening Ear Appearance
Although we can’t control the body features we’re given at birth, we do have options to go back and make adjustments! Otoplasty or Pinned-Back Otoplasty, is a wonderful procedure we use to soften the appearance of large and/or protruding ears … a surgery especially popular for children.
Kids can be particularly cruel to those with large ears. That’s why we like to make adjustments and complete procedures before youngsters enter school, usually by the age of five-years-old. Other than helping with their mental and emotional development, when children are young the ear is much more supple to manipulate – and healing takes a fraction of the time. Although complications and recovery time for this type of surgery are very low for both children and adults.
We place an incision behind the ear with dissolve-able stitches that bends the ear back towards the head to look more natural. In this edition of our Video Blog, listen as Dr. Moliver describes the surgery, and tells success stories of the patients he’s helped.
The corrective goal of otoplasty is to set back the ears so that they appear naturally proportionate and contoured, because they are harmoniously set back, without evidence or indication of surgical correction. Therefore, when the corrected ears are viewed, they should appear normal, from the:
Front View – The ear (pinna) is viewed from the front, the helical rim should be visible, but not set back so far (flattened) that it is hidden behind the anti-helical fold.
Rear View – The pinna is viewed from behind, the helical rim is straight, not bent, as if a “letter-C” (the middle-third to flat), or crooked, as if a hockey stick” (the earlobe is insufficiently flat). If the helical rim is straight, the setback is harmonious; that is, the upper-, middle-, and lower-thirds of the pinna will be proportionately setback in relation to each other.
Side View: Contours of the ear should be soft and natural, not sharp and artificial.