The great hope for most patients who see me for an ear reconstruction is that people will never notice their ears!
This is something most of us never consider, but it’s true that you really don’t notice ears unless there is something out-of-the-ordinary about their shape, or if they stick out too much or too little, or if there is asymmetry between them.
And we completely underestimate the important tasks we give to our ears. Especially in 2020! Wear my glasses, hold these earrings, hide this hearing aid, take this Zoom call and now, to top it all off, hold onto this mask!!
2020 has brought ears out of the shadows. I laughed when I saw the social post below (I think this has gone so viral that I am not sure who to attribute it to anymore). It seems that masks have finally revealed how hard-working our anonymous ears really are!
Medical staff and many of my patients know the feeling of masks pulling at our ears. This has been particularly hard to bear for people for whom one or both ears may already stick out a little too much. This year we have seen some wonderful results from performing otoplasty to pin back ears, give symmetry and restore natural shapes to ears.
Otoplasty can make an immediate difference *
Cleft earlobe procedure in day surgery *
I find it immensely rewarding to create, reshape and repair ears. And when people say “Nobody even notices my ears anymore!” then I know I’ve done my job.
It’s been a tough year for ears and I hope they will have earned a new level of respect after all this. As my great friend and mentor Francoise Firmin used to say, as an ear surgeon I don’t just love ears, “I’m addicted to ears!” and my heart breaks when I see them being mistreated. So in 2021, please be kind to your ears!
We’ll always remember this year when we look back at photos wearing our masks. Let’s continue to wear this important piece of protection for as long as we need it.
* Note: just as no two individuals are alike, no two surgical results will be exactly alike. Seek surgical advice from a FRACS qualified professional.