Otoplasty in Weston, Florida
Do you or your child have prominent or protruding ears that lead to suffering from feelings of self-consciousness and teasing from others? Children with big ears are often the victims of schoolyard bullying, and the resulting feelings of social anxiety can persist into adulthood. Adults with prominent ears may struggle with poor self-image and limited social opportunities. Otoplasty is a corrective surgery that can help adults or children achieve more natural-looking and less noticeable ears, thereby eliminating this source of peer ridicule, anxiety, and self-consciousness.
What Do You Desire?
Stronger Self-Confidence
If you are unhappy with your appearance, this can translate to a lack of happiness and confidence in who you are. Poor self-confidence can limit your quality of life at any age. It may prevent you from feeling like you can achieve your goals, make friends, form lasting relationships, or accomplish anything worthwhile. Others may treat you disrespectfully based on your appearance, further diminishing your self-esteem. Stronger self-confidence can be built by undergoing otoplasty to give you a normal ear appearance about which you can feel comfortable and confident.
Comfort With Your Appearance
Protruding ears may make you feel uncomfortable in your own skin. You may find yourself resorting to wearing hats or growing out your hair to conceal your ears. With ear surgery, there is no need to hide your ears. Otoplasty can help you feel comfortable with your appearance by giving your ears a more natural shape and angle so that they do not draw unwanted attention.
Better Social Opportunities
Prominent ears can elicit peer ridicule and isolate you from others. For children, this can prevent others from wanting to be their friend because they would risk facing the same type of bullying. For adults, it can prevent others from taking you seriously or from considering you as a romantic partner. Enhancing your appearance with ear surgery can help improve social opportunities for adults and children alike.
Who Can Benefit?
Children
Children, sometimes unwittingly, can be cruel to each other by drawing attention to each other’s unusual characteristics. Schoolchildren can mock and bully based on physical characteristics such as overly protruding ears. At this particularly vulnerable time of life, children may develop emotional and psychological trauma as a result of this ridicule and become isolated from their peers. Otoplasty can be performed as early as age seven to reshape the ear cartilage and create a more natural appearance. By offering this procedure for your child, you can help save them from teasing, bullying, and anxiety and prepare them for a more normal and comfortable life.
Adults
Adults with prominent ears may no longer deal with the outspoken ridicule that is common on the playground, but they may suffer other disadvantages. Social and work opportunities may be limited due to the awkward appearance portrayed by their large, jutting-out ears. Additionally, adults may suffer from the memory of childhood teasing and subsequent emotional trauma and social anxiety. Otoplasty can normalize the appearance of the ears and help heal emotional scars, allowing you to feel more confident and comfortable about your appearance.
Addressing Your Concerns
Recovery
During recovery, a protective dressing will be applied to the ears for one day. Mild bruising may occur but should not last more than one or two weeks. A child will need to wear a special headband day and night for two weeks and then at night only for two to four more weeks. This headband helps stabilize the ear cartilage during the early healing period. An adult patient can wear the headband at night only from the beginning if desired. After the first two weeks, it is safe to resume full activity, but contact sports should be avoided for six weeks. While the ears will initially feel numb and look flat against the head, they will feel back to normal within four to six weeks.
Scars
Dr. Messa performs otoplasty through an incision behind the ear, so there will be minimal visible scarring afterward. Special suture techniques are used to reshape the ear cartilage into a more natural shape.
Cost
Achieving natural-looking results with otoplasty requires dedication and skill that may be reflected in the cost of your otoplasty procedure. The cost is decided on a patient-by-patient basis based on factors such as surgical fees, facility fees, and anesthesia fees.
Pain
There is typically a remarkable absence of pain after otoplasty. Should you experience any pain or discomfort during the first few days, pain medications can ensure your comfort.
Frequently Asked Questions
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ARE PROMINENT EARS GENETIC?
If you have prominent ears, there is approximately a 25 percent chance that your child will also develop the same genetic trait. Adults with prominent ears who remember how difficult it was to endure teasing as a child may wish to recommend this procedure to their children to shield them from the same suffering.
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CAN CHILDREN UNDER AGE SEVEN UNDERGO OTOPLASTY?
Children under age seven should not undergo otoplasty because the ear cartilage is still growing and weak. By age seven, the ear is mostly full-grown and the ear cartilage is resilient enough to withstand surgery.
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WHAT KIND OF ANESTHESIA IS USED?
Otoplasty may be performed under local or general anesthesia. General anesthesia is recommended for children due to the length of the procedure.
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HOW LONG DOES OTOPLASTY TAKE?
Otoplasty surgery takes approximately 90 minutes and produces quick results.
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HOW LONG WILL THE RESULTS LAST?
The results of ear surgery are permanent. Patients retain their normalized ear appearance throughout their lives.
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