Introduction and objective:

prominent ears have an estimated incidence of 5%. According to the "Spanish Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgery" almost half of the interventions of patients under 18 years are ears surgery and mostly due to psychological reasons. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the efficacy of early and conservative correction of prominent pinnae by silicone prosthesis Otostick(r) Bebé, to avoid psychological problems and surgery later.

Material and methods:

children between 3 to 72 months, patients of pediatric primary care centers, with cephaloauricular distance greater than 15 mm, were selected. They were evaluated for 12 months, first weekly, then monthly and finally bimonthly.

Results:

38 patients and 75 pinnae were finally evaluated from the initial 60 patients. Like Auri method, were considered good, fair and poor correction 6-10 mm, 3-5 mm and 1-2 mm respectively. We have obtained a 90.7% (68 pinnae) with good or fair correction.

Conclusions:

the use of Otostick(r) Bebé baby for 12 months is considered an effective method for correcting prominent ears and can be an alternative to surgery, before psychological problems may arise. Further long-term studies are recommended.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in English | Spanish     · English ( pdf ) | Spanish ( pdf )