Cosmetic Surgery Fixes Patients’ Stretched Earlobes

Cosmetic surgery is being used to reverse gauging, which is where the earlobes are deliberately stretched and widened. Msnbc.com reports that ear surgery, also known as otoplasty, is being requested by patients who regret having their lobes stretched.

Ear surgery is often requested by people looking for a new job and going on job interviews, according to Dr. Angelo Cuzalina, a cosmetic surgeon in Tulsa and president-elect of the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery.

“It’s almost becoming a fad. People have the gauging procedure where they gradually stretch out their lobe so it has a giant hole that’s larger than a quarter,” says Dr. Cuzalina. “But then they want to join the workforce and think their chances for a job might be better if they didn’t have this.”

Plastic surgeon Dr. Brian Glatt, who does surgery for those who want their lobes reconstructed, says he is seeing more young people who gauged their ears as teens but are now outgrowing the trend.

The basics steps to the earlobe surgery, according to Dr. Cuzalina, are: the surgeons remove small strips of skin from the bottom of the lobe; the edges of the lobe are stitched back together; and then skin tissue is used to re-create the shape of a normal ear lobe.

The patient should be able to wear regular earrings after a few months; the procedure will probably result in some scarring, but overall the earlobe should look normal, says Dr. Cuzalina.

“It’s not a really painful operation to have done, but you may never get the lobe back to its original shape,” he says. “But more people are doing it. It usually takes some change in a person’s life to force them to come in and get the surgery.”

Dr. Will performs ear surgery in his Ijamsville, Maryland cosmetic surgery practice.