I Have Heard that Otoplasty is Very Painful to Recover From, is this True?

Otoplasty has a relatively less demanding and painful recovery phase compared to most other major cosmetic surgeries. The pain in the first few days is generally well controlled with oral pain medications and most patients do not even need narcotics. The site remains tender and  sensitive to touch for some weeks following the surgery.The fact that this surgery is often offered and performed in pediatric population implies a favorable postoperative pain and discomfort profile too.

The recovery from otoplasty is relatively straightforward. The discomfort and pain are usually well tolerated and in most cases oral analgesia such as paracetamol combined with non steroidal anti-inflammatory tablets are suffecient to control the pain. Occasionally patients experience some nausea in the first 24 hours after surgery. Children tend to tolerate this surgery extremely well.
There are exceptions and some patients do require stronger pain control and nay need to stay one night in hospital. These, however, are the exceptions and the majority are discharged on the same day of surgery and have mild pain for a few days.

Otoplasty is typically minimally painful.  A compressive dressing is placed upon the head and ears consisting of soft cotton and an elastic (Coban) gauze.  This is not painful, but feels somewhat tight.  Any pain that occurs the first night is easily eliminated with oral pain medication given as a prescription to be filled before surgery.  The next day the dressing comes off, and virtually all discomfort is gone.  During the first 1-2 weeks if the patient bumps the ears, they will be tender.  After this time period patients are essentially pain free and swelling has resolved.
Hope you found this answer helpful.  All the best!

In my experience, otoplasty does not tend to be a very painful procedure for patients to recover from. Most patient will require some prescription pain medicine for the first 2-3 days after surgery, but tend to report very little pain overall. There may be some numbness of the ears after surgery, but this is to be expected.
All the best,

Hello,What my patient`s tell me is they typically require narcotic pain medication the first night after otoplasty. At the end of the otoplasty I inject a long-acting local anesthetic and this provides very good pain relief for several hours. I send my patients home with a gauze wrap around the head that is removed the following morning. This seems to help the postoperative discomfort. For the next 10 days I ask the patients to wear an elastic head wrap (like a sweatband) except when they are showering. I think this helps prevent accidental bumping of the ears while they are still tender. Sleeping can be a challenge and if the patient can sleep on their back that is preferable. If patients are still having discomfort after the second or third day I will recommend using ibuprofen. At that point I think the chance of having bleeding is greatly decreased and the addition of ibuprofen can be very helpful.