Otoplasty Forum - Stress Living with Projecting Ears Video about Emotions

[DrBermant]

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
Learn More About Otoplasty Ear Surgery

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[skwg]

Poor fellow! I'm glad he was able to get some help. I remember my grandmother telling me how my father had protruding ears as a little boy & she made him sleep with one of her old stockings over his head every night to "train them back" (this was in the 1920's/early 30's).

[DrBermant]

Poor fellow! I'm glad he was able to get some help. I remember my grandmother telling me how my father had protruding ears as a little boy & she made him sleep with one of her old stockings over his head every night to "train them back" (this was in the 1920's/early 30's).

This should not be construed as medical advice. I am a retired Board Certified Plastic Surgeon.

Thank you for sharing. Did your father's ears go back with the technique? Was he bothered by his ears, not all are.

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Otoplasty Ear Surgery

[argosy2012]

Reminds me of when i was a kid,
Except i had failed otoplasty surgery when 11 , and have been living with consequences all my life,
I want to get them done again , But where>? I asked before if you could recommend me someone
But you can't, wish you would, Or do it yourself

[DrBermant]

Reminds me of when i was a kid,
Except i had failed otoplasty surgery when 11 , and have been living with consequences all my life,
I want to get them done again , But where>? I asked before if you could recommend me someone
But you can't, wish you would, Or do it yourself

This should not be construed as medical advice. I am a retired Board Certified Plastic Surgeon and no longer offer surgery.

Bad surgery can leave deep emotional scars. Why not share with others the issues involved or demonstrate the problems using our standard photos?

I evolved my own skills as a surgeon by taking critical Standard Otoplasty Ear Pictures both of the problems I was asked to fix and my results. The analysis of this documentation and measurements helped me to improve my methods over my career. The same technique is the basis of our resources here on How to Pick Your Otoplasty Surgeon.

The process does take some work looking for someone who has both the skills and the passion to document what they offer online. This forum is also designed to attract those with such experiences to show off their skills and link to their examples of what they offer.

Revision Otoplasty is even more demanding surgery. Scarred tissue can be much more difficult to control and shape. It can be even harder finding examples of a surgeon's skills with revision surgery of the ear. Options depend on the original problem, what was done, healing, and many other issues.

Sometimes the emotional scars are so deep to distort the reality field of the individual to think that ears that actually are almost normal are still "bad." I have seen cases of body dysmorphia where something that was within the range of normal was looked upon by the patient as being terribly wrong and disabling their enjoyment in life. That is another purpose to this forum. So that those with concerns can show the problem with standard images to others to get opinions if there really is a deformity or problem. Yet in other cases, the problem is quite obvious as in the examples I posted for revision surgery.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Otoplasty Ear Surgery

[argosy2012]

It would help more to give me a name and place that you know of that is top quality and trustworthy,
That could fix my ears,

[DrBermant]

It would help more to give me a name and place that you know of that is top quality and trustworthy,
That could fix my ears,

Sorry,suggesting  a specific doctor could be construed as offering medical advice: a liability issue. The information I provide here since retirement has to be general non specific. Perhaps one day we offer a surgeon directory for those who want to be listed.

You have not even posted the problem with your ears, images, details of the surgery. Some do not even need revisions but instead have a poor body image of themselves. You could help others learn from happened to you if something is wrong. Contributing to this site may result in a surgeon with a passion to post here what they think is wrong and suggest what they could offer. How is a surgeon to be attracted to consider offering help when no problem is defined other than "fix my ears."

This is something like Field of Dreams: "Build it and they will come."  Real life may or may not work that way, but I have taken a good deal of time to make what you see so far. The site continues to build. We will see what happens. If that is not good enough, sorry that is the best I have to offer at this time unless some benefactor comes by to change the situation or others have realistic suggestions to improve what we offer here.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Otoplasty Ear Surgery

[argosy2012]

Hi can you give my your opinion on my ears
Conchal bowl is too big
Sutures at top of ear has failed, hense top falls out
Antihelix fold is not there
Helix rim not correct shape

Tell me is it possible to have conchal bowl reduced
and have helix rim reshaped
And have antihelix fold just on top of ear reshaped to produce fold