Sutureless otoplasty by scoring of the cartilage: a study in 34 patients

The aim of correction of prominent ears is to improve cosmesis, preferably without complications. We used cartilage scoring with a surgical blade while controlling the degree of helical fold created with fine diathermy at the edge of fold. Thirty-four consecutive patients had bilateral correction, with a mean follow-up of 6 months. Their mean age was 8 years 3 months (range 6-18 years), and there were 16 boys and 18 girls. Twenty-six required general anaesthesia and eight had a local anaesthetic. Postoperative complications included one bleed that was controlled by a change of dressing, and an infection in one ear (treated with antibiotics). There were no haematomas, wound breakdowns, or protrusion of sutures (no sutures were used generally except for deep conchal bowl where conchomastoid sutures were used). We think that the low complication rate is the result of maximising the advantages and minimising the disadvantages of the different techniques. We recommend this technique for the routine correction of prominent ears as a result of a poorly formed antihelical fold or deep conchal bowl.