ear reshaping surgery
otoplasty
pinnaplasty

In some cases, surgery (otoplasty) is performed to reduce the size.

A cosmetic surgical procedure to reduce the size or change the shape of the ear is called an otoplasty.

The medical procedure via which ears are reshaped to give a normal appearance is known as otoplasty.

The veterinary procedure is known as cosmetic otoplasty.

Cosmetic procedures, according to the plastic surgeons' society, can run from $2,500 for otoplasty to $3,375 for breast implants.

Ear surgery (Otoplasty)

Otoplasty (ear correction)

Correction by otoplasty involves changing the shape of the ear cartilage so that the ear is brought closer to the side of the head.

Brent, B.: "Hydrodissection as Key to a Natural-Appearing Otoplasty."

Otoplasty ("ear surgery"/"ear pinning"): reshaping of the ear, most often done by pinning the protruding ear closer to the head.

The most common, but significant, complication of otoplasty is overcorrection, which can be minimized by the surgeon's detailed attention to the functional principles of the surgical technique employed.

Prominent ears In the practice of otoplasty, the term prominent ears describes external ears (pinnae) that, regardless of their size, protrude from the sides of the head.

Cellulitis is rare after otoplasty, but it is treated aggressively, with antibiotics in order to avoid chondritis - which might require debridement, and permanently disfigure the ear.

Timing otoplastic correction The ear deformity to be corrected determines the advantageous timing of an otoplasty, for example, in children with extremely prominent ears, 4-years old is a reasonable age.

This effect, of the shape of the patient's head, upon the outward and extended position of the ear is notably indicated in the 19th-century illustrations that describe the Ely otoplasty technique (1881).

Depending upon the deformity to be corrected, the otoplasty can be performed either as an outpatient surgery or at hospital; while the operating room (OR) time varies between 1.5 to 5.0 hours.

When the treatment is initiated in the first week of the infant's life, tissue-molding correction can yield a non-surgical otoplasty outcome comparable to that of surgical otoplasty.

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.

Yet, when done without an incision, the procedure is deemed an incisionless otoplasty, wherein the surgeon places a needle through the skin, to model the cartilage and to emplace the retention sutures that will affix the antihelix and conchal bowl areas.

But wander down the list, past eyelid surgery, face lifts and ear surgery (sorry, make that blepharoplasty, rhytidectomy and otoplasty), and you get to the Twilight Zone of bodily tinkering: lower body lifts, thigh lifts and buttock lifts.

Cosmetic surgery of the head and neck: (rhytidectomy/facelift, browlift, blepharoplasty/Asian blepharoplasty, otoplasty, rhinoplasty, septoplasty, cheek augmentation, chin augmentation, genioplasty, oculoplastics, neck liposuction, lip enhancement, injectable cosmetic treatments, botox, chemical peel etc.)

In the 1990s, Michael H. Fritsch, developed an incisionless otoplasty technique that resolved the occurrence of prominent ears with the application of skin-traversing (percutaneous) retention sutures, whereby the corrected pinna is affixed to the head at the distance and at the angle of projection appropriate to a normally configured ear.