LAM FACIAL PLASTICS

Hello Dr. Lam! I have protruding ears. I think my conches are too big. My right ear's helix is also slightly folded over. I am looking to get the ears pinned back and the right ear's helix fixed.

I have seen a plastic surgeon in my area who does microtia. He is willing to try to fix my ears...but his experience is mainly sculpting new ears for people who don't have any. He has not done much repair. If he tried to fix my helix it would be his first time ever doing a helix repair.

His method would be to detach and reattach the helix, extract cartilage from my head and use that to pull on the helix from the back of the ear. Seemed like he was guessing though. He said "I don't know the correct method for this, I am just applying plastic surgery principles to come up with a possible solution."

I am scared to have this done by someone who has never repaired a helix before.

Looks like you have a lot of experience with helixes. Is this something you could do confidently?

Also I am wondering if his proposed method was a good way to do it or not?

I took eight photos of the ears so you can see the problem. I posted them on this Photobucket album: http://s1070.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... r%20Photos

Looking forward to hearing from you.

hi,
honestly, the ears look pretty simple to correct. they look like principally a combination of lop and cup ear deformities. yes, there is helical excess but i don't think they will look that weird when pinned back properly. i do see the image of your using your finger to pull it back. it should look better than that. even though i have cut down a helix to shape it in the past, i don't believe it would be worth the tradeoff in your case. what is the tradeoff? a slightly irregular line on the edge of the helix where the ear is pulled back. i typically only do that for truly a very mis-shapened ear, which yours is not. if you watch the video i have on otoplasty new principles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTcBwd0F9B4
i think you will see that the main goals are that the ear should look like a good position from the frontal view and also of secondary importance is the side view. i would really have to see you in person to see whether taking down the helix even a little bit is worth it. it is easy to do but remember it can slightly mis-shape the edge of the helix. i would personally perform a standard cup and lop ear correction with the goal of 90% improvement in the ear shape and position.
best,
s.