Hello All,
I want to reduce the size of my ears in terms of height and width. They do not protrude significantly.
I have been told that I have enlarged ears due to:
- The scapha portion of the auricle
- Poor development of the superior inner ear fold / loss of some of the contour of the antihelix (inner fold) of the upper part of the ear.
I personally also feel that my conchas are too wide.
I have been doing research on the surgeons who perform Macrotia surgery and unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be many. When I have researched Drs and/or Macrotia, the following names have come up:
- Dr John Hilinski (San Diego, USA)
- Dr David Gault (London, UK)
- Dr Charles Thorne (New York, USA)
- Dr Rene Schumann (Düsseldorf, Germany)
At the moment it seems I am most likely to go with Dr Hilinski, based on his before/after images but also price. I would have considered Dr Thorne further I think, but the cost I have been quoted is more than twice what Dr Hilinski quoted - that's NYC for you I guess...
I am based in Europe but willing to travel ANYWHERE for this surgery, if any of you out there on the RS forum could recommend Drs and ideally provide before/after photos that would be very much appreciated.
Feeling quite lost at the moment as it's appears to be such a niche surgery and there aren't that many skilled surgeons that perform this type of surgery as most seem to specialise in pinning protruding ears closer to the head - pinning my ears closer to my head would not solve my situation.
Updated on 16 May 2018:
To give you (a somewhat crude) indication of what I dislike about my ears, I have added my profile (far left) next to some typical female ears. Here you can see how much larger my ears are in comparison. Ugh!
Updated on 20 Nov 2018:
As the title suggests I have been for a consultation with Dr David Gault in London.
He advised that the upper part of my ear could be reduced and pinched my ear (as in the 2nd and 3rd picture) to show me what the outcome could look like. He also suggested that I get my earlobes reduced slightly.
The price difference between getting just the upper part / the upper part and the earlobes reduced was about £1,500.
In the picture you see my current ear (1st), upper ear reduced (2nd) and upper ear and earlobe reduced (3rd).
I am currently trying to decide whether I want to go with option 2 or 3. With option 3 the height of my ears with naturally be overall smaller, however, at the same time I wonder whether option 2 is more likely to give me the desired shape I want, i.e. an oval shape (don't want a round shape).
I did mentioned my desire to have my concha bowls narrowed, however, Dr Gault advised that he thought that with option 3 I would no longer feel the need to have them reduced.
Hmmm...
Updated on 12 Jan 2019:
Hello everyone,
This is just a quick update to let you know that I have booked my surgery with Dr Gault for the 15th January. In the end I decided to "only" reduce the top part of my ears, i.e. I am not having a earlobe reduction as well.
Initially I was planning on postponing my surgery until I had saved up the money (as I did with my rhinoplasty), however, impatience got the better of me and I decided to take a personal loan. I have never taken a loan before and I have not got a credit card so the whole thing was rather intimidating at first. But I believe it has been worth it seeing as the total interest for the £4,500 I have borrowed is around £500. This means that I will be paying around £400 per month for the next 12 months. I am currently in a fortunate position whereby I am not paying for rent or a mortgage so the timing has been pretty good. Besides, my nose and ears have always been my two 'issues' with my appearance and so seeing as I have had the rhinoplasty done already, I sort of just wanted to get the ear surgery over and done with in order to begin the rest of my life, unbothered about the above! This does not obviously mean that a personal loan is suitable for everyone and I would advise anyone considering applying for one to thread carefully, you would not want to end up in debt because of plastic surgery!
The payment process was straightforward, once I had decided on my surgery date I called up Dr Gault's office and booked myself in. In order to reserve a slot you will need to pay the anaesthesia fee (local, £350) and the surgery fee (£3,495). Once the payment had been processed I received a email booking confirmation and a few days later I got a letter in the post from the hospital with instructions on how to pay the hospital fee (£618).
At the moment I am feeling satisfied with my decision but obviously somewhat nervous at the same time. I trust Dr Gault's knowledge and expertise, I just hope that he understands what my vision is. I think he found me rather annoying because I brought pictures of ears that I liked/disliked to my consultation but I rather be safe than sorry to be honest - besides, a picture says more than a thousand words right...
I shall keep you posted and if anyone has any useful advise I would be very grateful to receive this in the meantime!
Updated on 23 Jan 2019:
Hello everyone,
I imagine some of you want to know how my procedure went so here is an update.
I had my surgery at the Clementine Hospital in Harrow as this hospital offered the lowest hospital fees, (I believe Dr Gault also operates out of several other more central London locations).
I arrived at the hospital and changed into the surgery gown. As I was only having local anaesthetics I had been able to have lunch before I arrived. Dr Gault drew on my ears as per the picture to show how he was planning on reducing them. A short while later I went in for my procedure. The most negative part for me during the surgery was the numbing injections, they are pretty painful. It is always very strange being awake during this type of surgery, you will not feel any pain once the anaestics kick in but you are definitely aware of what is going on around you. I have to mentioned how incredibly sweet my nurses were, Anita and Karen, such lovely ladies! The procedure took about 2 hours after which I was given some paracetamol and a hot drink and a biscuit. Overall I thought the hospital and the staff were great, clean surroundings and everyone I met were very friendly.
I was prescribed with 5 days worth of antibiotics and after I had collected these I went home in a taxi.
Now I have to be honest, despite taking the two paracetamol I was given before I left the hospital, by the time I came home and had settled down I was in pain. A lot of pain. I had not been prescribed any strong pain killers so I took a couple of paracetamol fours hours after the previous ones. This did not help at all. Luckily for me I had some left-over over the counter painkillers from a previous unrelated surgery and so I waited up until it was safe for me to take these. Once they had kicked in I was able to get some sleep. I kept on top of my pain administration using these for the next few days and so I never experienced the same pain again thankfully. This is something for others to bear in mind though...
I have just come back from my post-op appointment with Dr Gault this afternoon where I had my stitches removed and ears cleaned a bit. I have attached pictures from today, as you can see my ears are still slightly discoloured and swollen but this is completely normal. I am going for my final check-up with Dr Gault in about 6-8 weeks.
As you can see from my before/after photos, my ears were previously rather upside-down triangle shaped and top-heavy. They have now been given a more feminine and refined look. They previously measured 70mm in length, now they just under 65mm which is within the average for female ear length. I go through stages but currently think it is a good thing that I did not reduce the ear lobes, I think it means the overall shape has remained somewhat more oval (0) rather than round (O). It is hard to level the before/after photos next to each other so the change becomes apparent, hopefully you are able to see a difference in these though. In hindsight I think maybe I should have asked Dr Gault to be a little bit less conservative when he drew on my ears – I could have done with them being slightly further reduced, especially on my right ear so that my helix now sat where the incision begins on the lower left side instead of a bit further out. Overall I can see a clear reduction though.
If you have any questions, do ask.
Updated on 27 Mar 2019:
Hello everyone!
I am now more than 2 months post-op and thought I would update you with pictures of the healed (bruise and swelling free) results. I dont think the shape will change much after this point, the scarring will obviously become less and less noticable though. Overall I m pleased I ennt through with the surgery!
Updated on 14 Oct 2019:
Hello everyone,
I thought I would provide you with a final update on my outcome, through the attached photos - any questions just ask. I do not regret having the procedure done, as you can see it has definitely improved my ears overall. Sometimes I feel though however that minor improvements could be made, but I am yet to decide whether this is something that I would like to explore in the future.