Congenital auricular and preauricular sinuses in childhood

Congenital auricular and preauricular sinuses, while seemingly trivial and often unnoticed or ignored, can give rise to troublesome symptoms if infection supervenes. Nine of 30 patients (30%) operated upon between 1969 and 1981 had postoperative recurrence, two of whom required two excisions. We would recommend aggressive treatment of infection followed by excision in 2-3 weeks before further infection can occur.