ear surgery (otoplasty) - details of the surgery

Otoplasty can be performed in a hospital or in an outpatient facility. Usually, young children have the procedure in a hospital under general anesthesia, while adults have ear surgery under local anesthesia with or without intravenous sedation (twilight anesthesia). In most instances, no overnight stay in a facility is required.

The actual procedure may require excision of cartilage and skin, relocation of cartilage, creation of folds in the ear, release of the spring (stiff cartilage that prevents the ear from folding), or thinning of the cartilage.

Traditionally, the incision for otoplasty is made behind the ear in the crease where the ear joins the back of the head. Occasionally, an inconspicuous incision is made just within the curved portion of the outside part of the ear to rasp the outer cartilage, thereby allowing the cartilage to bend more easily toward the head.

In most techniques, several permanent sutures are placed through the incision in the back of the ear to either create the missing folds or to pull the ear down and back. In some cases, the rasping of the outer surface of the cartilage will be enough to allow the ear to fold and be repositioned without any sutures at all. Occasionally, both cartilage and skin must also be removed.

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