Your ears are a distinctive feature of your body. They have a series of hills and valleys that surround the ear canal. However, despite their complicated shape, not a lot of people actually pay attention to them, unless they are noticeably different from others. 

When ears protrude excessively, people may notice and that is why it is common to seek otoplasty, the surgical correction of prominent ears. In some cases, the prominence is obvious and is a concern of the parents, long before the child notices. In other cases, insecurities start in the child him or herself at about 7 years old. While some consider having this surgery done earlier, a lot of people choose to undergo ear surgery when they are in their teens. Often parents reassure the children that “they are fine” but when the teenage years arrive, the children push for correction.

The size and shape of your earlobes are extremely important to the aesthetic appearance of your ears. Regardless of gender or hairstyle, the earlobes are the portion of the ears that are most visible. Because of genetics, aging, or trauma due to previous piercings or accidents, you may have misshapen or unsightly earlobes. In most cases, repair of the earlobe is a simple surgical procedure under local anesthesia in the office setting. 

The earlobe is the fleshy, lower part of your external ear or auricle that, unlike the upper 3/4 of the ear, contains no cartilage. Although obviously piercings can occur anywhere, the vast majority of women have piercings of the earlobes.

The most common reason people seek an otoplastyis because the ears stick out and they wish to have them moved closer to the head. Some patients who request an otoplasty (plastic surgery on the ears), however, are interested in having smaller ears. Other patients think they just want their ears pinned back and don’t realize that they really should have the size of the ears reduced at the same time. Ear shortening is an under-appreciated part of otoplasty procedures.

Many patients are aware of the more common types of otoplasty but are not aware that the length of the ears can be reduced at the top or at the bottom, or both, with invisible or nearly invisible scars.

Are you considering having plastic surgery of the ears? If so, here are some of the things you should know about the ear surgery known as otoplasty.

Otoplasty is a plastic surgery procedure on the ears that corrects excessive ear protrusion, excessive ear size, and/or corrects imperfections in the shape or contour of the ears. In the most common situation, the ears are of normal size and shape but protrude too far from the head. In those cases, otoplasty involves ear pinning or simply moving the ears closer to the head. In other cases, the otoplasty may involve ear pinning as described above but also involve other maneuvers to make your ears fit your face. An ear on a tall man may look perfect but that same ear on a small woman may look too prominent or too large.