Please see pics above - the first pic in left and right ear series is the before pics. The following pics in serious are 7day post-op and one day after each time.
I am from the UK and just had Otoplasty on 13/12/11. It was under general anesthetic and a 2 hour surgery.
The doc met me after the surgery and first thing he said was that he was not happy with the left ear - he said he was about 80% happy and informed me i have a congenial deformity which means my left ear lobe cannot be straightened without causing major tear or by inserting extra cartilage in. He said he does not favour any method to add cartilage as he says this usually looks terrible. From this point on i was very discouraged and worried about what the appearance would be. Does this even make any sense?
After 7 days i went to see the doc to remove my bandage, when they removed it both nurse and doc looked at my right ear and he decided that he need to use a needle to withdraw or drain some blood as there must have been a hematoma forming on my right ear. This was pretty painful but not that bad.
When i had a look in the mirror i would have to say i was disgusted - my right ear was okay but my left ear looked deformed. I was so disappointed i could barely say two words to my doc who i felt misled me and misrepresented his abilities. Both ears were so swollen they looked like i had just been in a boxing fight. Doctor knew i was disappointed and again informed me that the left ear had a congenial deformity and even though he has performed close to 600 otoplasty procedures there was little else he was willing to do. He said some doctors may try to do something different but for him he thought it was not worth taking anymore risks.
I think now looking back if you look at my ears (particularly the left one) they were pretty bad. They were like a cup with the lobes also bent inwards.
Also, i am still very disappointing with the left ear - not nearly as bad as the first day but still hardly content. Also, my left ear pre-op was very very different to my right - it had completely different type of firmness to the cartilage and was always very rubbery and soft to touch, whereas the right ear was always pretty rigid and actually had contours and outline of a normal ear.
Anyway what i am most disappointed in is the fact the doctor did not tell me about this congenial deformity with the lobe prior to surgery. My girlfriend and i made it a point to tell him pre-op that if the lobes could not be done well there is no point doing the procedure - he told me to not worry and it will be a good result. What you think about that, he completely did a 180 post op - is there anything i can do about this misrepresentation and how comes he did not tell me anything about this congenial deformity before the surgery??
What you think?? Is it a botch job or should i wait for swelling to come down further before making my mind up. Is revision even possible in this case - i am willing to travel to get the best of the best surgeon for any revision as i am very unhappy with current results.
At this time if i could go back in time i would not get this surgery done.
kind regards
Capitulation
