Ear Surgery

Ear surgery, also known as autoplasty is a type surgical method in improving the appearance of protruding or prominent ears. It is the only cosmetic surgery which can be carried out on children. A person with protruding ear often becomes the subject of teasing that results loss in self confidence, mental anguish and psychological problem. If a child is suffering from protruding ears, then most of the cosmetic surgeons recommend that the surgery should be done at young age.

One of the advantages of early age surgery is that, the body takes less time for recovery as it is the growing period. Ear surgery can also be carried out on adults also. In general terms there is no risk involved with ear surgery for adults. The only difference is occurs in recovering time.

Purpose and description of ear surgery

Other than correcting the appearance of ear, this type of surgery is conducted to rectify hearing loss, treating the deformities of auditory tube of the ear and to treat any other type of diseases and infection. Almost every ear surgeries are done on outpatient basis. Though in many case of child ear surgery, most of the doctors choose to keep the child overnight for proper monitoring. An ear surgery maximum takes two hours duration. Though depending on complexity of method of ear surgery the duration of the surgery varies.

If the surgery is carried on young children, then general aesthetic is preferred by surgeon. While on the other hand, general anesthetic is preferred for adults and younger children so that the ear and its surrounding tissue get numbed. The surgeon makes the incision in an area so that it remains away from the sight. Generally, a maximum of three inch opening is made within the natural crease, behind the ear in order to conceal the incision from sight. This opening exposes the core cartilage of the ear. This is the soft flexible tissue that provides the ear with its distinctive shape. Depending upon the degree of protrusion, the surgeon either weakens the cartilage or turns it to give a new shape or eliminate the surplus cartilage to attain the expected results. In order to prevent the cartilage from turning back to its original shape, the cartilage is bind with the help of permanent sutures. After securing the cartilage, the incision of the ear is sealed and sewn back.

Precautions to be taken after ear surgery

After the successful completion of the surgery, the patient is instructed to wear tight and thick dressing to protect and cover the ears. After one week, the surgeon uses further light weight bandage. Patients of ear surgery might undergo through slight to moderate uneasiness at the time of first few days of healing process. But the surgeon can easily minimize this pain with the use of counter medicine. In the initial period, the patient might feel difficulty to sleep, because many people have the habit to rest the head on ears. Use of soft pillow helps in getting rid of this problem. After one week sutures are cut and the patient gets back to its normal work.



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