Quality of life after otoplasty for prominent ears in children

AimProminent ears are a common congenital malformation and are associated with low self-esteem, social isolation and diminished school performance. Our goal was to evaluate the influence of otoplasty on children’s quality of life (QoL).Material and methodsPatients submitted to otoplasty from 2016 to 2018 were summoned for a reevaluation. Seventy patients and respective caregivers agreed to participate. Surgical, demographic and clinical data were reviewed from electronic registries.Two sets of inquiries were performedPediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 (for parent and child) and an adaptation of the Glasgow Children Benefit Inventory (GCBI-b). Fifteen patients were excluded for incomplete inquiries.ResultsFifty-five patients were included, 70.9% were males. Median age at surgery was 7.7 ± 3.3 years. Aesthetic dissatisfaction was the main previous negative experience. Median self-report quality of life was 85.6% and parent-report was 86.9%. Median GCBI-b was +20.5, indicating an improvement in patients’ QoL. Bullying and high parental expectations for life change post-surgery were predictive of higher GCBI-b scores (p < 0.05). Ninety-six percent of parents would recommend surgery to other children.ConclusionsOtoplasty is a valid treatment option for prominent ears in children,improving not only aesthetics but also health-related QoL.     

Pitanguy's otoplasty: Report of 551 operations

Protruding ears is a common condition and in plastic surgery there are many techniques for correcting them such as suture, transection, and scoring. Over a period of 15 years, we have used Pitanguy's otoplasty. The advantages of the Pitanguy technique have been verified in a retrospective study of 278 patients followed up for up to 15 years. There were 20 relapses (4%), which is clearly lower than the mean (between 8% and 11%) for patients treated by other methods. The main reason for our low rate resulted from the generation of large scarring areas, using a combination of transection and seaming. We think that a slightly modified Pitanguy's method reduces postoperative morbidity which affects the aesthetic results.     

Management of Prominent Ears: Personal Approach

Various methods for correcting prominent ears have been reported. Although anterior cartilage antihelix abrasion combined with posterior retention sutures is a conventional procedure, it does not include anterior conchal cartilage abrasion and thus allows easier reduction of the condromastoid angle. A simple and effective technique is described that involves using a rasp to score the whole anterior surface of the auricular cartilage, including the concha, in combination with Mustarde-type conchal-antihelical and conchal-mastoid retention sutures. This method was applied to 342 patients (675 ears) over 23 years, who were followed up for periods varying from 18 to 24 months. Good results were obtained for all patients with minimal complications.     

Small incision otoplasty for prominent ears

A 5-cm incision and an elliptical skin excision are part of almost all surgical techniques designed to correct prominent ears. It is proposed that two 0.5-cm incisions be used that give access to the lateral surface of the auricular cartilage, which is thinned with a rasp along the antihelix and concha. The skin is not removed at all. Results obtained with this technique are presented.Presented at the Sociedad Argentina de Cirugia Plastica, XVII Congress, Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 4, 1987.     

Correction of Prominent Ears with a New Splinting Technique

Correction of prominent ears represents one of the main applications in plastic surgery. Apart from its cosmetic nature, this operation is important because of the psychological distress that the deformity causes patients. In this study, 40 patients who underwent treatment for prominent ears in our department were evaluated. The classical surgical technique described by Chongchet followed by a new splinting procedure was performed. The advantages of this technique are described in comparison with traditional methods.     

Otoplasty – two useful technical refinements

Two useful technical refinements are described while performing correction of prominent ears, which makes transcutaneous tattooing of the conchal cartilage more effective and prevents prolapse of hair in the operative field during the surgical procedure. Received: 26 February 1998 / Accepted: 17 March 1998     

Otoplasty: Anterior Abrasion of Ear Cartilage with Dermabrader

Background The international literature describes many different techniques for correcting prominent ears. Some of these techniques use weakening of the anterior surface in an open or close way. Others use suturing of the unfold antihelix. Still others suture the concha with mastoid, and some combine several of these procedures. There is thus no most widely accepted single method. Since 1993, the senior author has used the described technique on a group of 40 patients (35 bilateral and 5 monolateral cases). Before 1993, the senior author always used an open technique, but the anterior cartilage was weakened by the partial parallel incision procedure.Methods In the current study, the surgical approach for cases with a normal or moderately deep concha consisted of open anterior otoplasty with cartilage abrasion by an electric burr alone. If the concha was severely hypertrophied, concha–mastoid suturing was combined with otoabrasion, as previously described.Results The follow-up period was a minimum of 16 months and a maximum of 8 years. Complications were rare and rapidly resolved. The outcome was successful whether the burr alone or a combined method was used.Conclusions The authors believe that anterior abrasion of ear cartilage is a useful, simple technique that is not too time consuming by which an immediate postoperative aesthetic improvement is reached. It also is more precise and safe than the partial parallel incision procedure.