Giving a ear

Dr Yash Mehta, Principal Surgeon & Founder, Aesthetic and Cosmetic Surgery Clinic, shares details on the Otoplasty procedure and the ideal patient for the same with Shriyal Sethumadhavan.

Dr Yash Mehta is a Facial Plastic Surgeon, MS (Otorhinolaryngology), FFPS, MBBS. To embody his beliefs in beauty, he established the Aesthetic and Cosmetic Surgery Clinic (ACSC) in Mumbai in 2019. As a doctor, he believes in listening to the patients’ concerns and then offering scientifically backed medical solutions to those concerns.

Dr Mehta completed his MBBS degree from SSR Medical College - University of Mauritius, Mauritius. He then went on to pursue his Master in Surgery (MS) in Otorhinolaryngology (ENT) from VS Hospital, Ahmedabad-Gujarat University. Following which he was accepted as a fellow for Facial Plastic surgery through the Spanish Society of Facial Plastic Surgeons where he learned the latest techniques and best practises related to Facial Plastic Surgery. His background in Otorhinolaryngology gave him an additional advantage given his detailed understanding of the face.

In this interview, he shares insights on the Otoplasty procedure.

Who is a good candidate for Otoplasty? What is the type of patient you typically see for this procedure?

Otoplasty is a cosmetic procedure used to change the shape, size, position of the ear using permanent sutures. The primary candidate for this procedure is a person with protruding ears. Also, patients who have their ear disfigurement due to trauma can be consider for this procedure. I typically consult patients who would like to improve the shape and size of their ears.

Tell us about the surgical technique adopted by you?

The Mustardé technique, Furnasa technique and also the Davis technique can be used for correction. The Mustardé technique is used to correct the undeveloped antihelical fold, and I use the Furnasa technique for correcting excessive conchal cartilage. However, as with any other type of major surgery, Otoplasty has certain complications too, which include asymmetry, telephone ear, reverse-telephone ear, hematoma, and perichondritis.

Are there any minimally invasive options as well?

Yes, there is minimally invasive options such as Allergans earfold ® .

What is the recovery time and what does the post-treatment care involve?

This procedure is done under local anaesthesia, and so, complications of general anaesthesia are avoided. There will be a bilateral mastoid ear dressing or xeroform dressing for five to seven days.

The dressing needs to be redone after the first 24 hours, and after seven days, the stiches are removed.

Any contraindications involved that one should be aware off? Also, is there anything the patient must not do after the procedure?

Contraindications for Otoplasty would be if the patient is under five years of age, if the patient has bleeding disorders, and infection of the ear cartilidge. The patient cannot play any contact sports for seven to ten days and cannot go swimming until the scars have healed.

Which do you consider as most challenging as well as successful case studies for this treatment?

The most challenging cases of Otoplasty is anotia, and most successful are the cases with protruding ear with either excessive conchal cartilage or underdeveloped antihelix fold.