Lop ears: a retrospective study

Congenital “lop ears” are a deformity include varying degrees of turning down (lidding) of the helix, reduction in the fossa triangularis, scapha compression, reduction of the superior crus of the antihelix and an associated reduction in vertical height of the external ear. Aim of this retrospective study is to assess the clinical outcome in a series of patients affected lop ears and discuss the pertinent literature. In the period between January 2003 and December 2009, 32 patients underwent to lop ears correction at the Pediatric Surgery Unit, S Anna Hospital, Ferrara, Italy. Patients included 4 (33.3%) females and 8 (66.6%) males. Age ranged from 5.6 to 18 years with a mean value of 11 at the time of admission. Lop ears were treated with Mustarde’ surgical technique under general anesthesia. No complications were detected in the follow-up period. The goal standard of surgery treatment for prominent ears is to obtain symmetrical and natural ears with not sign of being operated. More than 200 surgical techniques have been described for its correction indicating the lack of an ideal technique. These techniques can be classiied into two categories: with conservation of cartilage and with cartilage section. Section methods attend to eliminate the inherent memory of the cartilage so that the shape of the ear can be modiied. These techniques may leave signiicant asymmetries. In contrast, methods which shape the cartilage are based on the Mustardé technique, which consists of placing 3 or 4 horizontal mattress sutures with permanent suture material along the ridge of the helix, to create an antihelix fold. Our clinical results are similar to those reported in the English literature.