A Guide to Otoplasty

Regardless of age, having enlarged or misshaped ears can have a negative effect on an individual’s self-esteem. Typically this procedure can be performed from ages 5 and up, once the ears have reached full maturity.

Otoplasty was first developed by Sushruta, a physician often regarded as the “father of surgery”. He lived in ancient India circa 600 BC, which he first described in his text Susrutha Samhita. He and his later students and disciples used otoplasty to reconstruct ears that were amputated as a punishment for crimes. The techniques of otoplasty he developed form the basis of surgical procedures that are practiced to this day. This knowledge of plastic surgery existed in India up to the late 18th century.

It is important to realize that otoplasty surgery will not affect hearing ability in any way, it is purely an aesthetic procedure. Otoplasty can take many forms, such as bringing the ears closer to the head (often called ear pinning), reducing the size of very big ears, or reshaping various bends in the cartilage. Other reconstructive procedures deal with the deformed, or abscent-microtic ears. Otoplasty surgery can involve a combination of moving, reshaping, adding, or removing structural ear elements.

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