Auricle plastic
Ear surgery, or otoplasty, is an operation to correct the shape of the ears or to reconstruct the auricle. The most common cause of ear plastic is congenital lop-earedness. Lop-earedness is neither a developmental defect, nor a disease, nor any other pathology, it is one of the variants of the normal structure of the auricle. But it is considered a cosmetic defect, and as such it can cause suffering to a person, starting from early childhood - protruding ears are very difficult to hide, even if they grow long hair, and lop-eared children often hear offensive teasers in their address.
As they grow older, lop-earedness causes more and more trouble, and often leads to the appearance of an inferiority complex, poisoning a person's life and interfering with his social adaptation. In this case, ear plastic surgery is one of the most justified cosmetic operations. In addition, it is not particularly difficult, complications are extremely rare, and are more likely due to individual characteristics than to the difficulties of surgical intervention. There is an age restriction - otoplasty is shown no earlier than after reaching the age of six.
Surgical intervention requires preparation. The patient is prescribed a medical examination, based on the results of which a decision is made on ear plastic surgery or the need for preliminary preparation. The operation itself to eliminate lop-earedness takes from half an hour to forty minutes. For children, adolescents and people with increased emotionality, general anesthesia is used, in other cases, the patient is offered local anesthesia, however, the choice remains with him. The surgeon cuts the posterior wall of the auricle, removes excess cartilage, then sutures the tissue. A pressure bandage is applied to the ear, which is left for several days; during a week at night, it is necessary to wear a special fixing bandage in the form of an elastic mesh so as not to accidentally damage the operated auricle during sleep.
The postoperative period lasts an average of two weeks, during this time it is necessary to visit a doctor and make dressings. A week after the ear surgery, the sutures are removed. Sometimes absorbable sutures are used, then there is no need to remove the sutures. For another one to two weeks after the operation, the auricle may be slightly edematous, and in the area of the incision it may have a color unusual for healthy skin - purple or blue, due to hemorrhages. A month after the operation, as a rule, all traces of the surgical intervention disappear.
Ear plasty is a very effective operation, but one should know that it is unlikely that it will be possible to achieve absolute symmetry of the auricles, and there is no need to strive for this, because the slight asymmetry of the face is its "liveliness", the difference between a living person and computer graphics.
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