Otoplasty (Cosmetic Ear Surgery)

Dr. Chow specializes in otoplasty, also known as cosmetic ear surgery, for younger patients from his San Francisco office.

Patients will come in with their parents, a child and they are typically in the age around 7, will come in for consultation for otoplasty. An otoplasty is the surgery to correct what we call prominent ears of the children that come in. We actually fix that by repositioning the ear. The problem is that their cartilages are usually unfurled at certain area that makes it stick out and there is another part of the ear that the cartilage is actually too large, and we actually pin that back with stitches and this is done under a light general anesthetic in which the child is put to sleep. They are breathing on their own, it is safe, and a series of sutures are placed to recreate the fold that they didn't have and put it in the position that they could have been born with.