Is Otoplasty the same as Microtia surgery?

Microtia is a deformity of the ears at birth, and otoplasty is a type of ear surgery commonly performed to pin ears back.

What is Otoplasty?

For some patient, the otoplasty procedure needed is a technique often called “ear pinning,” which involves bringing the ear back toward the scalp to a more normal position. For others, the cartilage of the ears must be reshaped. In some cases, both ear pinning and ear reshaping/resizing are required.

What is Microtia?

Microtia means tiny ear, and refers to an inborn condition where one or both of the outer ears are very small, malformed or absent. Microtia occurs very rarely maybe once in every 6,000 births. Some forms of these ear deformities are genetic and may occur with other congenital problems.

Microtia usually affects one ear but can occur in both ears. It usually occurs due to abnormal ear development during the first trimester of pregnancy.