Otoplasty is a procedure that is within the scope of plastic surgery. There are various reasons for performing this procedure, but the most common reason for interest in otoplasty is congenital deformation of the auricles. Ear plastic surgery is quite often performed on children, with some parents whose children have exceptionally protruding ears opting for this procedure.

It may seem to some people that protruding ears are a trifle, but it is worth pointing out that there are also more pronounced congenital ear defects. These include microcephaly (congenital absence of part of the auricle) or anocephaly (complete lack of development of the outer ear), in which case otoplasty can enable patients to obtain auricles with a normal structure.

Sometimes, the appearance of the patient's ears changes over the course of his or her life - an example of this is cauliflower ear, a defect associated with repeated trauma to the auricle (occurring, for example, during contact sports).

And how does otoplasty work? Well, the procedure can run very differently depending on the exact type of defect to be corrected. In general, however, ear plasty is based on modelling the cartilage tissue on which the appearance of the human earlobes primarily depends. In children, ear plasty is rather performed under general anaesthesia; in adults, the procedure is sometimes performed under local anaesthesia.