Otoplasty
Procedure: Otoplasty
Surgery Length: 2-4 hours
Anesthesia: Local with oral sedation or General
Where: Outpatient Hospital/Outpatient Office
Recovery: Turban style dressing 24-72 hours after surgery, Wearing a headband over the ears when sleeping for one month, Temporary swelling of ears, Pain in ears which resolves quickly
Back to work: 24-72 hours
Full activities: 1-2 weeks
Risks: Bleeding, Hematoma, infection, loss of sensation
An otoplasty procedure corrects ear deformities.
The procedure is usually performed under local anesthesia with heavy sedation in the office surgery unit. The surgery can be performed under general anesthesia an outpatient, particularly on children. However, there is a greater risk of an anesthesia complication with a general anesthetic. Otoplasty can be performed at any age from 3 to 93, but we prefer to wait until patients are old enough to cope with the safer local anesthetic approach.
The patients are requested to refrain from taking Vitamin E and aspirin products for at least two weeks prior to surgery. These two medications and their by-products tend to cause bleeding. We also request that for those patients who smoke, that they refrain from chewing Nicoret gum or smoking two weeks before and one week after surgery. Nicotine has been shown to compromise blood supply to the skin and increase the chance of infection and skin loss. Patients are not allowed breakfast the morning of surgery and are requested to shampoo and shower the morning of surgery I order to decrease the bacteria count and lessen the chance of infection.
Prophylactic antibiotics and pain medication will be given to the patient preoperatively for postoperative use. A brief history and physical will also be performed if not performed recently by your physician. After the procedure the patient will require someone to drive them home and will require observation by a loved one for at least 24 hours.
A turban type dressing is applied after surgery and is removed 24 to 72 hours after the operation. It is not replaced unless there is evidence of bleeding. In situations where bleeding might be suspected or severe pain or infection noted in the immediate postoperative period, the dressings are removed immediately. After removal of the turban dressing, the patient wears a sweat band placed over the ears but only during the night. After one month, patients require no restraint on the ears at all.
Sutures are removed between seven and fourteen days after surgery. There can be some black and blue and swelling of the ears, but this is usually resolved within two weeks after surgery.
