One issue that commonly arises when consulting with macrotia ear reduction surgery patients is whether or not the ear will be brought in closer to the side of the head. In short, the answer is – yes.
When I perform cosmetic ear reduction surgery to make an ear smaller from top to bottom, the top one 1/3 to 1/2 of the ear will usually be repositioned at the same time it is resized. This typically translates into the ear moving inward closer to the head. Even though this is not done by traditional ear pinning, or otoplasty, surgical technique, the end result visually is very similar in that the ear looks less prominent from the frontal view.
Here is a great example of just that concept in a female patient who came to me complaining of large, prominent ears. When I examined her ears, there was definitely a component of macrotia, or scapha enlargement, where the top part of the ear was overly developed. But her ears also stuck out too far as a result of the scapha enlargement.
Now she could have undergone otoplasty or ear pinning to try and move them inward. But that would not have accomplished the other goal of making her large ears smaller in size. This would need a whole different type of surgical approach and technique – like the one I have honed and refined over years and years of making ears smaller in size. Here she is shown below shortly after undergoing my designer ear surgery. As you can see, the ears are indeed smaller from top to bottom. But you can also readily appreciate how the ears are now closer to the side of the head and no longer stick out as much as they did. But this was not achieved by ear pinning. This was all done by macrotia ear reduction – reshaping and repositioning the scapha of the ear while making the ears smaller in size. Pretty cool, huh?
