Lop – eared
Lop—eared is a congenital anomaly of the outer part of the ear, in which it is located not parallel to the temporal bone, but at an angle of 31-90 degrees.
The content of the article:
Causes of hearing loss
Basic principles of aesthetic correction of lop-ear
Correction of lop-ear by otoplasty
Lop – eared
Lop—eared is a fairly common phenomenon: about 50% of people have at least its initial stage. This pathology is equally common in representatives of both sexes, but women can hide the bulging ears with hairstyles, which makes it seem that men are more susceptible to it. Most of all, children and adolescents suffer from this defect, often this leads to the development of an inferiority complex in adulthood.
As a rule, protruding ears have the usual structure and size, but they are incorrectly positioned in relation to the head. The formation of the auricle begins to occur at the 3rd month of pregnancy, and all internal folds — at 6. The lop-ear can be seen immediately after the birth of the child and its correction can be carried out in the first 6 months of his life. At this age, hearing loss can be corrected without surgery: to do this, it is necessary to fix the auricle in a new position with the help of a special form of silicone, which is called a “lop-ear corrector”. Thus, it is possible to correct the protrusion of the ears at home. And although there is no 100% guarantee that the defect will disappear completely, most still manage to smooth out the lop-ear. The operation is performed if this procedure was not performed in the first six months after the birth of the baby, since after 6 months of the child’s life, the cartilage of the auricle becomes stronger.
By medical standards, the ideal location of the outer ear in relation to the head should be 30 degrees, the contours of the outer part of the ear should be parallel to the cheek, and the gap between the edge of the ear and the head should reach 2 cm. If the head and ear form an angle of more than 30 degrees, then this is interpreted as lop-eared.
In total, there are 3 degrees of lop-earedness.
If the angle between the ear and the head is 31-45 degrees, this is the first degree. With her, the defect is not clearly expressed, women can easily hide it with their hair.
The second degree is characterized by an angle of more than 45 degrees. At this degree, the lop-ear is quite noticeable.
At the third degree, the angle between the head and the ear is 90 degrees. In this case, the defect is pronounced.
Causes of hearing loss
Lop-eared is a congenital anomaly. As a rule, it affects both ears, but in some cases there may be a bulge in one ear. For the most effective correction of the defect, it is necessary to correctly determine the location of the ear in relation to the head.
Lop-earedness can be caused by one or more features of the development of the ear in the embryonic period. The following factors can be attributed to the causes of the development of lop – ear:
the most common cause of hearing loss is heredity. Even if the child’s parents have normal ears, the presence of this defect in grandparents can cause the development of lop-eared baby;
individual feature of development. In some cases, the ears may begin to develop incorrectly even during embryonic development. At the same time, they may be underdeveloped, characterized by a smoothness of the antitumor, or have hypertrophy of the cartilage of the auricle;
strong protrusion of the earlobe;
deformation of the shape of the ear curl at the end;
the protrusion of the ears can be combined with macrotia — a strong increase in the ear evenly along the entire length. The size of a normal ear is quite variable, but in some cases the ears may be disproportionate to the head. This can happen with isolated, very rapid growth of the ear or half of the face. Macrotia can be combined with Recklinghausen’s neurofibromatosis or congenital vascular diseases.
Basic principles of aesthetic correction of lop-ear
There are people who are not shy about their protruding ears and even consider it their “highlight”, while others — on the contrary — are very complex about it. And yet most people try to hide their lop-eared. Many are born with protruding ears, but this does not mean that they will suffer from hearing loss throughout their lives. Over the years, the bones of the skull greatly increase, and the lop-ear can practically disappear. It is possible to carry out an operation to eliminate this defect no earlier than 6-8 years and only if the parents have a doctor’s certificate indicating that the child really has pronounced lop-earedness. Correction of hearing loss at an early age can save the baby from mental suffering and contribute to the formation of normal self-esteem. By the age of 6-8, the child’s outer ear is formed by 90%. In adulthood, there are practically no restrictions on performing surgery to correct hearing loss. However, otoplasty (a procedure during which the doctor changes the size and structure of the outer ear) is not performed in patients with impaired blood clotting, endocrine disorders, malignant tumors, predisposition to the formation of rough scars, inflammatory or infectious processes in the inner or outer part of the ear.
Although the operation to eliminate hearing loss is quite popular, and its implementation is technically simple, the approach to each patient should be selected individually.
The operation to correct the protrusion of the ears is an aesthetic procedure, since its purpose is to eliminate a flaw that does not pose a danger to the human body. Nevertheless, this fact does not reduce the importance of the procedure in improving the quality of human life. If a patient has sought medical help, it means that he has serious psychological problems.
Correction of lop-ear by otoplasty
Before the operation, the patient should be checked for the presence of any diseases. The scope of the examination depends entirely on what kind of anesthesia the doctor will use during the procedure. Two weeks before surgery, it is recommended to give up drugs that affect blood clotting and smoking, as it negatively affects the process of tissue regeneration. In the evening before the procedure, the patient should wash his head with shampoo. If the surgical intervention will take place under general anesthesia, then 6 hours before the operation, you can not drink liquid and take food. Before the procedure, the patient is photographed. This is necessary so that a person can adequately assess the difference before and after surgery.
During the intervention, the surgeon eliminates congenital or acquired defects of the auricles or changes their position. Although otoplasty is considered an easy operation, it still requires an experienced and qualified specialist to perform it. The most advantageous shape and location of the future ear is chosen by the doctor, based on the anthropometric indicators of the patient. During the operation, an incision is made behind the fold of the auricle. After that, the surgeon creates a form of cartilage, thanks to which the ear will fit as tightly as possible to the head. In some situations, the elimination of hearing loss is combined with the correction of the earlobe. The duration of the procedure is from 30 minutes to 1 hour, and is usually safely tolerated by patients. After the end of the operation, a roller is put on the ears, which supports the new position of the cartilage, and on top of it — a bandage or bandage, the function of which is to fix the cartilage. You need to wear a bandage for a month after surgery.
At the moment, doctors are increasingly performing laser otoplasty. Thanks to the laser scalpel, you can change the structure of the shell and change its location without leaving any traces of surgical intervention.
If all the instructions of the attending physician are followed, complications after surgery practically do not occur. The results obtained during the intervention remain for life: no additional procedures are required to maintain them.
Thanks to otoplasty, patients can get rid of psychological suffering and inferiority complex, start a full life. After the correction of lop-eared, many become more relaxed and sociable.
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