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Ear Reduction Immediate Results

So what does an ear look like immediately after it has been reduced in size as a result of macrotia scapha reduction surgery?

I have included this case example to show you precisely what an ear looks like on the actual operating room table. This very pleasant gentleman flew to San Diego to have his ears cosmetically reshaped. Although some ear pinning was planned, a great majority of his issue with the ear had to do with scapha enlargement, or macrotia. You can see in this preoperative photo how the ear simply looks to be too large in size. In addition to the ear being too big overall, this segment of the auricle also appears abnormally flat because of the excess cartilage and skin. Remember, the surface contour of a normal looking ear should have a combination of ridges and valleys. When this is not the case, as in many macrotia patients, it makes the ear look even more abnormal.

If you look closely, this is really a reflection of his upper half being abnormally large. The adjacent diagrammed photo here shows specifically where the scapha is considered to be enlarged – creating the look of an ear that is simply too big. As indicated by the arrows, this ear is too tall and too wide in the directions shown. Therefore, scapha reduction surgery is intended to target this precise region of the ear that would benefit from being smaller in size.

Fortunately for this gentleman, he found my office online after doing fairly extensive research regarding how to make an ear smaller and less prominent. In fact, many of our ear reduction surgery patients find us online. This is because I am one of the few plastic surgeons in the country who has specialty experience in making a large ear smaller in size. Many plastic surgeons perform classic ear pinning surgery, but only a select few truly make the ear smaller in size. A testimony to this is the relative dearth of ear reduction examples that can be found online. But, here on my macrotiasurgery.com site, you will find quite a few examples of how a large ear can be made smaller in size because this type of surgery is one of my specialties.

In this particular case, we discussed the nuances of ear pinning versus actual ear reduction surgery – and he ultimately opted to do a combination of both surgeries.

Ear Reduced in Size

Here is a quick view of his left ear immediately after being reduced in size. Obviously, there is a fair amount of swelling and even early bruising that detracts from the normal surface landmarks of the ear. But if you look closely at the ear, you will readily appreciate how much smaller it is already – even with swelling and bruising. Not only is the ear smaller in size now, it also has improved shape in terms of the helical rim border. Of note – the lower segment of his ear was addressed with traditional otoplasty technique where the ear was pinned closer to the head. But the changes shown here are reflective of the ear reduction, or macrotia surgery, only.

So how much has the ear been reduced in size? How much smaller is the ear now? You can see the difference here in the adjacent photo diagram. The red curved line is the actual outline of the top border of the ear that was shown in the preoperative photo above. Meaning – the red curved line is where the top of his ear used to be before I performed the scapha reduction surgery. So how much change was made in this case? I will tell you precisely what I did! On this side, I reduced the ear by 1 centimeter (10 millimeters), near the top. Some people may say, well 1 centimeter is not that much. But, in reality, 1 centimeter reduction in the size of the ear is actually fairly significant. Especially when the average ear is about 6-6.5 centimeters in height. Think about being 6 feet tall – and suddenly being reduced to 5 feet tall. That is quite a big change!

Ear Reduction Comparison Photos

Here is a side-by-side comparison of what this patient’s ear looked like prior to being made smaller – and what it looked like right after the surgery.

Consult to Make Your Ears Smaller

If you have ears that are considered too large for your liking, contact my office in beautiful San Diego today to schedule a personalized consultation with one of the world’s foremost experts on surgical reduction of the large ear.

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