OK, this has been the weirdest spring any of us has known. At least by canceling most (maybe all at this time of writing) of the hockey season we didn’t have to watch any more Red Wings’ futility for this year.
Fortunately, summer is here, and that’s always a good thing, even with this dumb virus. Summer is a good time to take care of certain surgeries or treatments for kids. In the dental arena, summer is the best time to pull a teenager’s wisdom teeth.
And if your child has overly protruding ears, summer is the best time to have a simple surgery to bring them closer to the head. Our experienced surgeons at Elite perform these surgeries for our Grand Rapids patients.
Protruding ears and school
Whether or not you were teased at school, you know one thing about junior high and high school kids — they can be relentless. And at this point in a child’s development, this kind of abuse can really damage the self-esteem going forward. Having ears that protrude is an especially easy target for teasing.
Plus, the insecurity doesn’t somehow end with school; protruding ears can still bother even the most self-confident adult.
At Elite Plastic Surgery, we perform otoplasty, ear surgery, to correct a variety of conditions with the ears: protruding ears, overly large ears, large or stretched earlobes, wrinkled or creased lobes, lop ear, and shell ear.
The surgery
In most cases other than remaking the ear, otoplasty is a simple procedure. For children, the surgery is recommended between the ages of five and 14, as the ears are usually fully developed by age five and doing the procedure prior to elementary school is advisable. Your Elite surgeon will make the small incisions behind the ears. A small amount of cartilage is then removed. With that cartilage removed, the remaining cartilage is sutured into place, pulling the ears closer to the head. Because the incisions are made behind the ears, they are virtually invisible. However, in other cases, incisions may need to be made on the front of the ears, particularly in re-shaping surgeries. If this is necessary, we try to hide the incisions in the natural folds and creases of the ears.
Who can have otoplasty?
While otoplasty is normally performed on children, it isn’t a difficult surgery for adults, either. If wish your parents would have had your ears pinned as a child but didn’t, the surgery is still available to you an adult. Other people have natural ear defects and opt for reconstructive ear surgery. Some of these congenital ear defects include cat’s ear, cagot ear, scroll ear, cleft earlobe, lop ear, microtia, macrotia, or a constricted ear. Overly large or heavy earrings can also cause torn or stretched earlobes, which can be fixed with otoplasty.
If your child has protruding ears, summer is the time to have simple surgery to bring them closer to the head. Please call us at Elite Plastic Surgery, (616) 459-1907, to schedule your consultation.
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