Microtia is a congenital developmental abnormality of the ear. The main treatment for this condition is surgical correction, which is usually best chosen when the surgery is performed at the age of 6-7 years before school.
Microtia treatment is usually done by skin expansion and autologous cartilage grafting, but also depending on the severity of the microtia, this method is a proven technique and usually requires 2-3 surgeries.
The surgery focuses on recreating the shape, size and position of the auricle of the deformed ear using the healthy side of the ear as a template. The auricular cartilage scaffold can be made of autologous rib cartilage, allograft cartilage, xenograft cartilage, silicone rubber and other materials. Before the surgery, a thorough examination should be done to rule out surgical risks and to keep the local skin clean. The first step is to bury an expander capsule made of silicone under the skin of the ear reconstruction site. After a week of burying, saline is continuously injected into the expansion, three times a week, gradually expanding and localizing the skin to prefabricate a sufficient amount of skin for the reconstructed ear, and after a month, skin expansion is completed. After a period of time, the expander is removed, the sculpted ear scaffold is buried, and then the fine anatomical structure of the ear is shaped, and finally a perfect ear shape is made.
The time of surgery is usually chosen around 6-7 years of age in preschool. At this time, the size of the ear is already fixed and there will be no more changes in the shape of the ear, making it more suitable for surgical treatment. Recreating a normal looking ear at this age is good for the child’s psychological development and will not cause an inferiority complex because of the deformity of their ear shape. Children at this age also have relatively sound physical development and can withstand the trauma of anesthesia and surgery, allowing them to safely undergo surgical treatment.
The treatment of microtia is mainly performed in a staged surgical approach, and the choice of age for surgery is also something to be aware of.