What Type Of Ear Reshaping Surgery Brings The Top Of The Ear Closer To The Side Of The Head?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I saw an ear surgery on your site a while back, it was to do with bringing top of ear closer to head, but not by increasing the fold. It was at the point of the helix root I guess, and it mentioned something about people with a bald head, how moving in ear at this point reducing the look of the ear sticking out. So again it wasn’t increasing the fold, it was pulling the helix root area to the scalp. I have an ear with a weak helix root, fold is fine, but ear lops out a bit at top, and I can see how this surgery would fix this, as it’s clearly visible how it’s so weak at his point. Can you send me a link to this surgery on your website, I recall seeing it but can’t locate it now.

A: You are referring to bringing in the top of the ear at the superior helical root area. You are correct in that no traditional form of ear reshaping, like used in setback otoplasties, will work for this type of ear protrusion. You can’t find or bend the cartilage in this area to create that effect because it is not caused by the lack of a cartilage fold. Te technique that I have found to be effective is to reduce the postauricular space by removing skin from both sides and sewing the cartilage to the temporal fascia

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana