This should not be construed as medical advice. I am a retired Board Certified Plastic Surgeon.
There can be an amazing amount of stress living with a deformity. When I was in practice, many came to me for help with such issues sharing with me horror stories. Here is one video I saw that talks about
Problem of Projecting or Big Ears.
Bullied 9-year-old gets plastic surgery is a short story done about another doctor's patient. Notice how uncomfortable that individual was on camera. Yes, it was quite common for patients to come to me pulling their ear back. I incorporated the action of holding back ears in front of a mirror in my assessment of many of my ear patients. First with the patient putting the ears where they wanted, then when indicated, during my discussion and patient education.
During one of my national television interviews, I was taken back when one of the online personalities commented that big ears were no big deal referring to Clark Gable as it not being an issue. Wow! Here is a page on
Hiding Big Ears and Clark Gable I wrote to better educate the public about that misconception. In fact it was such an issue, for his family that when his daughter came home in tears over the cruel taunting by other kids, otoplasty surgery was done soon thereafter.
Ear Deformities can be Inherited as in the case of Clark Gable's daughter, but not always. It sometimes comes back in later generations with the grandparent having similar ears.

The emotional scars can be quite deep and seeing the new ears for the first time was an incredible experience. From children to tough professionals, I saw many tears as they looked from the mirror to their before pictures and back to the mirrors. I set up the office so that they could look at the wall mirror from the chair they were sitting in when I removed the ear dressing. Next to the mirror were their
Standard Ear Pictures so we could both evaluate what had been done. I would then
Measure the Ears and take new pictures to document the progression.
It was quite difficult to document the emotional component of this problem. I tried capturing it on videos. Perhaps one day I will try to publish some of that material.
Hope this helps,
Michael Bermant, MD
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