Earplasty in Saarbrücken

We unconsciously read personal characteristics from the facial features of our counterpart. In doing so, our gaze is automatically directed to the eyes, nose and mouth. Studies have shown that people with protruding ears look more often at their ears. Protruding ears can lead to emotional stress. Children are often excluded, teased or bullied at school. Their self-confidence and school performance can suffer. Those affected cover their ears with a long haircut. Girls are afraid to wear plaits or a pinned-up hairstyle. Not every child is able to endure the mockery of their classmates. If the child is suffering greatly, emotional support is helpful. Counseling of the child and parents by experienced plastic surgeons at CenterPlast Saarbrücken can help.

Certain malformations of the ear can be detected immediately after birth. In the womb, the unborn child is exposed to hormones that keep the cartilage soft and malleable. These hormones are broken down by the sixth week after birth. In breastfed babies, the cartilage remains soft for a little longer. During this time, certain silicone bandages allow the ear to be corrected without surgery. The shaping bandages are best worn from the third day until the third month of life. Certain malformations can be corrected in this way before the child is exposed to the teasing of peers.

Sail ears of the newborn can be treated with plaster bandages. By the third month of life at the latest, however, the cartilage has lost its ability to be shaped. After the bandage is removed, the elastic ear cartilage returns to its original shape.

Tissue adhesive has been used in surgery since 1998. Today’s tissue adhesives consist of two naturally occurring proteins (fibrinogen and thrombin). The chemical skin adhesive cyanoacrylate is broken down by the body into formaldehyde and cyanoacetate. These metabolites can trigger an allergic and inflammatory reaction in up to fourteen percent of patients (Nigro LC, et al., 2020, Plast Reconstr Surg). After seven to ten days, the uppermost layer of skin dissolves naturally. Even in newborns, where the cartilage is still soft, permanent success with skin adhesives is not to be expected. We strongly advise against the use of adhesives from household use. These adhesives are toxic and damage the skin.

The incidence of sail ears seems to be lower after birth than in the following years of life. Studies have therefore assumed that the ear cartilage is deformed by lying down. In the first months of life, the ear cartilage is easily deformed. This property is exploited in the ear correction of newborns with silicone bandages. However, it is uncertain whether lying down has a significant influence and how much of this influence is. What is certain is that in the majority of cases a predisposition leads to protruding ears. A varied sleeping position for babies also prevents head deformation caused by lying down. The head should be turned in the supine position, sometimes straight, sometimes to the left or right.

For infants, the accompaniment and support of parents is very important. An ear reconstruction should be performed under general anesthesia. To prevent children from feeling the injection of the sleeping pill, the skin on the back of the hand is numbed with a special plaster half an hour before the procedure. After the operation the surgeon administers a long-acting local anesthetic. This way the children wake up from the anesthesia without pain.

In children, the cartilage of the ears is still soft. The cartilage can therefore be easily shaped into the desired form. The cartilage is then fixed with fine sutures. If necessary, an enlarged ear cavity is reduced in size and brought into the correct position with sutures. Corrections of excess skin or the earlobe are performed at the end. The wound is closed with fine sutures. Careful dressing of the ears is especially important for children. On the one hand the bandage must not be too tight, on the other hand the children must not touch the wounds for hygienic reasons.

Ear corrections must be carefully prepared. Tobacco smoking reduces the blood circulation in the tissue and impairs the healing of wounds. Smoking has been shown to be associated with a higher risk of inflammation, even if it is stopped four weeks before the operation. The patient and the surgeon must carefully weigh these risks in advance. Special precautions must be taken in case of concomitant diseases such as high blood pressure or the intake of certain medications.

The operation can be performed without hesitation in light twilight sleep. In adults, the ear cartilage is firmer. In order to bring the cartilage into the desired shape, the cartilage must be weakened or thinned out. Occasionally, it is necessary to remove or transplant cartilage.

Adult patients should be picked up after surgery.

• Do not wear glasses in the first ten days after the operation to keep the wound sterile.
• Because of the medication that will be administered to you during the operation, you should strictly avoid driving on the day of the operation.
• An upper body elevation of thirty degrees and cooling for two to three days promotes the decongestanting and healing of the wound.
• Schedule regular appointments to check your well-being and the results of the operation after the operation.
• A shaping bandage and an elastic bandage around the head are required for one week. For the following five weeks, you should wear a headband at night.
• Avoid lying on your side at night for the first three weeks.
• You can wash your hair immediately before the wound check on the seventh postoperative day.
• The skin sutures are removed ten to twelve days after the operation.
• Clean the newly formed fold behind the ear with a cotton swab daily after removing the skin sutures. Afterwards, treat the skin with a neutral skin cream.
• Observing the rules of hygiene will ensure your surgical result to a high degree. The hands should be washed regularly with liquid soap for a period of thirty seconds. Avoid contact with animals.
• Avoid bending over. Lifting heavy loads, taking a sauna, swimming and other sports activities should be avoided for 3 weeks and possibly even longer if slight swelling persists.
• Avoid intense sunlight and extreme cold (skiing) for three to six months.

The thread method was described about twenty-five years ago. In the suture method or earplasty without incision, the surgical sutures are placed through the skin at the back of the ear. The knotted suture is placed through a small incision in the subcutaneous tissue. In order to weaken the restoring forces of the cartilage, the ear cartilage is cut through the skin with needle punctures (needle rupture). The thread is sutured through all layers of tissue: Skin, subcutaneous fat, cartilage and cartilaginous skin. The tying technique, the number of knots and the positioning of the sutures do not differ significantly from surgical techniques in which a skin incision is made. Bruising is not to be feared, as the skin does not detach from the cartilage. Head bandages or headbands are therefore not used, because the method is simple, painless and, unlike other surgical techniques, a scar-free procedure.

The suture technique without skin incision has significant disadvantages. The ear cartilage cannot be thinned out. Due to the restoring force of the cartilage, especially in adults, there is a greater risk that the auricle will regain its original shape. The stitches may protrude and promote inflammation. Excess cartilage or skin cannot be removed without an incision in the skin. A targeted and lasting correction of the auricle requires a skin incision.

In order to keep the risk of inflammation low, the wound is dressed aseptically after the operation. The wound is closed after about ten days. Until then there is a risk that germs will enter the wound and multiply. It is therefore very important to observe hygiene measures. The dressing should not be changed independently in the first week. On the seventh day after the operation, immediately before changing the dressing in CenterPlast, it is possible to wash the hair. The wound may only come into contact with water for a short time. Make sure that no soap residues remain on the scalp. The hair should be blow-dried with cold air. Wear the headband ordered for you in CenterPlast until the dressing is changed.

The auricle reaches eighty-five percent of your adult size in the third year of life. Therefore, protruding ears can be corrected from the age of four. Children and parents should be involved in the optimal follow-up treatment (visits to the doctor, hygiene rules, wearing a headband).

The self-image of children consolidates in the fifth year of life. Teasing in school impairs self-esteem and self-confidence. Recent studies on the ideal time for an earmold plastic surgery recommend surgery from the age of four. Earplasty has been shown to improve the quality of life of children. Nevertheless, many patients undergo surgery in adulthood.

If patients are prone to proliferating scars, special precautions should be taken. In adulthood, secondary diseases, taking blood-thinning medication and smoking tobacco can affect the outcome of the operation. In these cases, the patient and the plastic surgery specialist should discuss one of the most important questions: The risk-benefit ratio. This must be critically reviewed in this case.

Treatment is always associated with opportunities as well as risks. It is therefore advisable to take out consequential costs insurance before undergoing aesthetic surgery.

Scars heal differently for each person. Children and adolescents have a strong immune system, which tends to form pronounced scars. Larger scars can form on the ears than on other parts of the body. In people with dark skin color and in people with a corresponding genetic disposition, bulging or proliferating scars can develop. The scar pull can change the shape of the auricle and lead to asymmetries. Slight differences in the sides are normal in every person. A correction of asymmetries is therefore only worthwhile if they are really noticeable.

The restoring force of the cartilage can lead to a regression of the reproduced inner ear fold (anthelix) after some time. The scar pull can lead to an excessive emphasis of the inner ear fold (anthelix). When looking from the front, the inner ear fold (anthelix) covers the outer ear fold (helix). In this case the outer ear fold recedes into the background, hence the technical term “hidden helix”. Various causes can lead to the auricle being tighter in the middle than the upper edge or the earlobe. This unsatisfactory shape is also known as the “telephone receiver ear”.

If the cartilage has been shaped by an incision technique, tiny edges and kinking can become visible after the swelling has subsided. Unevenness of the auricle can be particularly noticeable on thin skin.

Suture granulomas or fistulas can form if surgical sutures are incompatible. Inflammation of the skin or cartilage may require surgery and antibiotic treatment. In case of inflammation, an aesthetically unfavorable result and a conspicuous scar must be expected.

A numbness or hypersensitivity of the auricle usually disappears by itself after a certain time.

If you would like to find out the price of a specific ear correction surgery, we recommend that you use our price calculator or arrange a consultation.

The health insurance company will only cover the costs of ear tucking for minors if there is an expert opinion from a psychologist or psychiatrist stating a high level of suffering due to teasing. You will find further information on the subject of cost coverage by health insurance in the menu category “Costs” under the item “Obligation of health insurance companies to pay benefits”.