History of auricular reconstruction

Although surgery for small auricular defects has been carried out since ancient times, plastic surgery became more common after the discovery of anesthetic techniques and advances in our understanding of sepsis and asepsis in the middle of the 19th century. After that time, we can find an increasing number of auricular operations in the literature. The middle of the 20th century marks the introduction of modern methods for partial or total auricular reconstructions. This historical account details the most important surgical techniques for ear reconstruction.