What is total ear reconstruction without skin grafting by the full expander method of over-expansion?

  The procedure was pioneered by me and the relevant papers have been published in the national medical journal “Chinese Journal of Plastic Surgery” and in the international plastic and cosmetic journal JPRAS.  The general procedure is similar to the dilatation method in that one dilator or one high-capacity dilator is implanted above and below the back of the ear during the first stage of implantation (traditional dilatation methods tend to implant only a small dilator), and the amount of dilated skin is sufficient for covering all areas of the cartilage scaffold during the second stage. With sufficient dilated skin, no skin grafting is required in the second stage of surgery.  The incision is almost tension-free because no skin is removed from the donor area of the chest with this method, and the scarring of the incision is significantly reduced after suturing by the cosmetic suture technique, which is especially suitable for women who love beauty. Since all skin flaps are used to cover the scaffold and no free grafting of skin pieces is done, there is no possibility of scaffold exposure due to poor survival of the grafted skin or deformation of the reconstructed ear due to late contracture of the grafted skin after the surgery. In addition, the short operation time, minimal trauma and short post-operative recovery period are also among the advantages of this method. It has been proven to be a practical and good method. It has become a routine procedure in our department for ear reconstruction surgery.