Surgery v Non Surgery
It is likely that over 80% of all ear deformity which is apparent at or soon after birth could be corrected by means of ear splinting. Surgery to correct stick-out ears is the most common paediatric plastic surgery procedure, and usually undertaken under general anaesthesia, which thus means that there is an opportunity to avoid a very great number of operations each year simply by assessing the ears of a baby at least twice, at birth and at around three months, to check that the ears are developing normally.
It is normal for the ears to look squashed or crumpled for up to 48 hours after birth, but if you are concerned that they continue to look abnormal after this time, it is best to consider splinting with EarBuddies.
If the opportunity to use EarBuddies is missed, then surgery to set back the ears is an option. Pinnaplasty surgery is best done only once. Whilst Mr Gault was happy to revise surgery undertaken at other centres, it is sometimes not possible to achieve as natural a result as would have been achieved had the intial surgery met expectation.