Ear deformity in children

Due to various reasons, modern people are very likely to have symptoms of deformities during pregnancy, which has brought great pain to many families. For example, deformities of children's facial features are common symptom. Among them, the probability of ear deformities is relatively high. Although it will not affect the function of the ears, it will cause damage to the image and is very detrimental to the psychological development of young children. Let's take a look at what to do if children have ear deformities?

The development of the ear begins in the 5th week of embryogenesis, and by the 3rd month of embryogenesis, the external ear is basically formed. If the ear development is impaired, oto-maxillofacial deformities will occur. The clinical manifestations are ear deformities, external auditory canal atresia, middle ear deformities, and combined with ipsilateral cranio-maxillofacial deformities, such as dysplasia of the mandible, temporal bone, and facial soft tissue. The clinical manifestations of microtia are: (1) The auricle is small and abnormally shaped but has most of the characteristic structures. (2) A small hook-shaped remnant of cartilage and skin located vertically and facing forward, completely closing the external auditory canal. (3) The auricle is almost completely missing, with only a small remnant, such as a deformed earlobe.

Treatment timing for congenital microtia

When to perform ear reconstruction surgery requires both psychological and physiological considerations. First of all, the child’s defect is a common psychological burden for both parents and children. Especially when the child goes to school, it will cause ridicule from peers, thus affecting the child’s normal physical and mental development. Therefore, from a psychological point of view, surgery should be performed as early as possible. Physiologically, the auricle of a 3-year-old child has reached 85% of that of an adult, and is close to adult size when he or she is 8 to 9 years old. In addition, from the perspective of costal cartilage development, the costal cartilage of children around 5 years old can meet the needs of ear frame carving. Therefore, considering all factors, surgery should be performed before school age (6 to 7 years old) for patients with unilateral microtia. For patients with bilateral microtia, the timing of surgery can be appropriately postponed.

Treatment of congenital microtia---ear reconstruction

The fundamental treatment for microtia is ear reconstruction. The standards for reconstructed ears are: normal size, similar shape to the opposite ear, symmetrical position to the opposite side, symmetrical ear-cranial angles, long-term stability of size and shape, similar toughness, coordination between the skin color of the reconstructed ear and the surrounding tissues, and realistic shape of the reconstructed auricle. The patient should feel that the reconstructed auricle is "his own" and he does not have to be careful and pay attention to it all the time in his life. Although each criterion is correct, it is difficult to achieve in practice.