Otoplasty: Bringing the Ears Closer to the Head

By Cheryl Walter

Otoplasty - A cosmetic surgical procedure to bring the ears closer to the head.

It was obvious from a very early age that my beautiful son, Matt, had inherited the big ears from my side of the family. Actually, his ears are very cute - they just were cupped and stuck way out. Matt also inherited thin straight hair so we knew it wouldn't be easy for him to camouflage his ears later if he chose to. Matt was always a very bright, happy guy with a smile that was always ready. At age two when a distant relative saw him for the first time and said, "So this is Matthew. Look at those EARS!" I was totally heartbroken. Not a smart or nice thing for someone to say, but I knew if a relation would say this Matt would be in misery once school started.

My ears are shaped different than Matt's but stick out a lot. Even though I have thin straight hair it has been easier for me to cover them with different hair styles. I remember when I was in my late teens buying some extremely sticky paste that was sold to hold ears back. This didn't feel good. I hid the jar at home from embarrassment. I really wished I could wear my hair up or in a pony tail.

My brother had otoplasty performed at age 25. He had the same ears as Matt and was constantly teased in school. When Matt was three my brother told me that if we chose to have the procedure done, age four is ideal. At age four the cartilage in the ear is still soft which makes surgery and recovery much easier. In his opinion it was worth every penny for the self esteem it would bring. My husband and I began our investigation.

The total procedure would end up costing approximately $4,500 U.S. dollars. Insurance would not pay for this cosmetic procedure until we could prove with a therapists report that he was suffering emotionally. Arguing over the poor logic behind this was to no avail. We worried endlessly about putting our little boy under anesthetic. We visited the doctor who my brother had worked with and he began to calm our fears by being very thorough and supportive. We set the surgery up for the Christmas vacation when Matt was in first grade. The hospital anesthesiologist explained how much safer it is now to put someone under and bring them back should there be any sign of reaction whatsoever.

Matt has always been very brave at the doctor. He watched in fascination as they drew blood and was rewarded generously at every turn with stickers and little toys by the hospital staff. On the morning of the surgery, he drank a liquid which made him drowsy so setting up his IV was not a trauma. I smiled as he was wheeled away and spent the next hour and a half in the waiting room trying not to cry as I wrung my hands and paced. It was a very hard thing to do. We had subjected our son to risk for the sake of cosmetic surgery because the world is full of people who don't accept anyone who isn't near perfect. There is something terribly wrong with this fact, true as it may be.

After an hour and a half the doctor appeared beaming and announced the surgery went very well and we could go to the recovery room to be there when Matt woke up. We were very relieved, now we just had to deal with recovery. Matt woke up drowsy, thirsty and curious. His little face was the only part of his head that wasn't fully encased in white gauze. We were able to remove all the gauze 24 hours later and put his ski band on (he was able to chose the color). The surgery did not slow him down much and getting him to sit and color even on that day was hard because he didn't feel too bad at all. He had to wear the ski band 24 hours a day for the first ten days (we alternated with another one when it was in the wash). After that he only had to wear it at night for three weeks so if he turned over in bed it would not bend his ears and pull on the stitches.

His swollen ears took several weeks to get back to normal size. For the next several months we swabbed his stitches regularly. The outside stitches dissolved. There are permanent ones inside. His ears were very flat to his head, but as time went on they pulled away a bit.

Matt is now turning 11. He always was handsome, but now no one will tease him about "those ears." His ears look wonderful. We have gone back to the doctor once to have a few of the permanent inside stitches removed. Sometimes those stitches work their way out and press against the skin to get out! It was relatively painless to have them removed.

Since this experience we have had our daughter's ears done as well. She is turning eight and is able to sweep her thin, straight hair up in a pony tail or wear it down without her ears poking through. This is a luxury I was never able to have. She won't know the frustration of coming up with hair styles just to hide her ears. We will never regret our decision to go through with this surgery for either child.