Postoperative views of a seven-year-old girl who underwent a unilateral right otoplasty.
The patient had presented with bilateral protruding ears with the right ear being more severe than the left. The parents opted not to have the left ear corrected at this time and desired to have only the right ear brought into harmony and symmetry with the left ear. Although the right ear had an excess amount of cartilage causing somewhat of a cup deformity, because it was felt there was equal excessive cartilage and cup deformity in both ears, that no cartilage would be removed from the right ear. The primary deformity in the right ear was the lack of an antihelical fold that resulted in a lop ear deformity. She also had Darwin tubercle prominence on the most superior aspect of her right helix. The right otoplasty technique involved only placement of permanent sutures via a posterior incision in order to reform the antihelix and set back the right ear so that it had a similar appearance to the left ear. As can be seen in the lateral view of her ear, this was all accomplished while maintaining a naturally shaped and anatomically correct ear.
