Can You Make My Ears Stick Back Out Again After An Overcorrected Otoplasty?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I’m contacting youfAfter reading your answer on Real Self. I am very much worried as I had a terrible otoplasty that left my ears over pinned (3 months ago), it is a true nightmare as I asked the doctor not to do it!!! I am just curious about any possibility to make my ears stick out again. You wrote that the ears can stick out again trough an incisión of the scar tissue that is holding the ears folded. Is this enough or do we have to mold the cartílage again?What could you recommend me to do? Doctor used Stenstrom technique with one absorbable stitch per ear. Thank you.

A: It is unlikely that just release of the sutures will make the ear come back out as the memory of the cartilage is now lost at three months after surgery. That only works in the first few weeks after surgery. It now requires a tissue bank cartilage graft to hold the ear back out once it is released. That is the fundamental principle of a reverse otoplasty.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana