Ear Surgery (Otoplasty)

Ear surgery, or otoplasty, is done to set prominent ears closer to the head or to reduce the size of large ears. Ear surgery can also replace ears lost due to injury and to correct ear problems such as awkward folding, unusual smallness or absence of natural folds and curves.

Ear Surgery operation usually takes two to three hours and requires the surgeon to make a small incision behind the ear to expose ear cartilage. The cartilage is then sculpted to bend the ear back toward the head. Alternative techniques involve folding the cartilage back onto itself, and allowing the ear to reshape itself without removal of the cartilage. To pin the ears back, surgeons  sew non-removable stitches concealed behind the ear.

Ear surgery does not usually require an overnight hospital stay, and patients can be up and around within a few hours after the procedure is completed. Overall recovery time is about five days to seven days, after which  time normal activities may be resumed but taking care to avoid bending their ears for about a month.