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Cartilage reshaping for protruding ears: A prospective long term follow‐up of 32 procedures
Author(s) -
Leclère Franck Marie P.,
Trelles Mario,
Mordon Serge R.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
lasers in surgery and medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1096-9101
pISSN - 0196-8092
DOI - 10.1002/lsm.21126
Subject(s) - term (time) , cartilage , medicine , prospective cohort study , surgery , anatomy , physics , quantum mechanics
Background Correction of prominent ears is a common plastic surgical procedure. We introduced a new non‐invasive laser‐assisted cartilage reshaping (LACR) technique as an alternative to invasive surgical otoplasty. Methods Since our first report in 2006, 32 LACR procedures in 17 patients have been performed at the Antoni De Gimbernat Foundation in collaboration with the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) U703. For 15 patients, the procedure was bilateral, for the remaining 2 patients LACR was performed only on one side. The treatment consisted of seven stacked pulses (3 ms, 2 Hz, 84 J/cm 2 cumulative fluence) applied using a 4‐mm spot hand piece. Early and late complications were defined and reviewed for the whole series. Satisfaction was assessed by the patients using a visual analogue scale from 0 (unsatisfied) to 10 (highly satisfied). The superior and middle cephaloauricular distances were prospectively evaluated. Results Except for two cases of dermatitis, there were no early complications and no late complications (like keloids) in the series. The mean superior and middle cephaloauricular distances were, respectively, 12.3 ± 1.9 and 13.7 ± 1.6 mm compared to 17.8 ± 3.1 mm ( p < 0.01) and 23.9 ± 1.9 mm ( p < 0.01) before operation. Mean patient satisfaction was 8.6/10 with all patients reporting that they would be willing to undergo the procedure again, if required. Conclusion LACR appears to be a safe and reproducible method for the treatment of protruding ears. Other applications of this technique, like laser assisted septal cartilage reshaping (LASCR) for septum deviation, have been recently described. Lasers Surg. Med. 43:875‐880, 2011. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.