When the baby is born, we analyze it from top to bottom to see that it has everything in its place and one of the things we first look at is its ears. If they are large, small, prominent, symmetrical, aligned ...
In 60 percent of cases, the problem is immediately apparent after birth: the baby has blow ears. Also known as ears on handle, peeled or winged.
In the rest of the cases, the ears take off as the child grows. Parents notice that it is an exaggerated separation and that the ears are not in harmony with the rest of the face.
In any case, not all the ears that parents seem detached are considered a congenital malformation. It is not really a malformation, because the ear is well formed in its structures, but a deformity, since in the last months of pregnancy the ear did not complete its normal position.
But what is considered a deformity and what is not?
The puff ears are the most frequent aesthetic problem in childhood. It is due to missing one of the folds of the ear called antehelix producing excessive depth of the ear shell. In most cases it occurs in both ears.
A detached ear is one whose free part, that is the upper lateral part, has a separation of more than two centimeters of the head.
The winged appearance of the ears does not impair hearing at all, but in many cases affects self esteem of the little one who from a certain age, around the age of five or six already begins to have a notion of his physical appearance.
In some cases, the blow ears tend to become more discreet as the boy grows, either because the head grows and the deformity is concealed or in the case of girls because the hair helps to hide them.
Psychological effects
In some cases the deformity is too noticeable and this begins to be a complex for the child who becomes a cause for mockery by his peers. Nobody likes to laugh at their flaws or call them "Dumbo", "ears", "Mickey Mouse" or "Pepe sopillo"
Some children take it normally, but others can be really affected because of their prominent ears.
The effect of not being comfortable with your own image has an impact on your daily life. It affects their way of relating to other children, their self-esteem and can even lead to school problems, concentration and stress.
When the problem becomes a trauma, we must find a solution for the welfare of the child. You can choose to subject the child to a cosmetic surgery operation.
Specialists advise that the child be exposed to the possibility and that it is the child himself who asks to be operated so he feels part of the solution.
Solutions to the blow ears
- Otoplasty
The otoplasty is the cosmetic surgery operation intended to correct deformities of the ears. It is the most demanded repair surgery among minors. Seven out of ten people who have surgery on their ears are children.
The operation lasts two hours and is carried out by sedation and local anesthesia. It is a simple, low-risk intervention, it is definitive and its recovery is very fast, but it involves subjecting a child to a surgical operation. In each case, the child, the parents and the pediatrician should be evaluated if they compensate according to the result.
The most appropriate age for otoplasty is from six or seven years old, when the ears have already acquired their definitive form.
- Other solutions
There are doctors who recommend non-surgical methods to correct the ears too far apart from the head, although its effectiveness is not fully proven. Some say that they are useless directly and that if it works, the solution is temporary.
The Auri method is a method developed by Danish specialists with the aim of correcting prominent ears no need to go through the operating room.
It is similar to the brake system in the teeth. It consists of holding the ears during the day with hypoallergenic strips and during the night with a plastic clip.
As they say, how many before the treatment begins, the better, because when the child is newborn the cartilage of the ear is more malleable and shorter and more effective will be the treatment. It is estimated between 3 and 6 months of treatment.
Another solution to correct the sore ears is a new product created by an Extremaduran mother, a aesthetic concealer which can be purchased in pharmacies.
It is called DisRas and consists of a transparent silicone prosthesis that is placed behind the ear and adheres to the head producing an immediate aesthetic effect.
It is not recommended in children under three years of age and does not specify whether its effect is only visual or if it is able to correct or mitigate the deformity.
