Potential Side Effects from Removing Cartilage from the Ear for Revision Rhinoplasty?

ear cartilage grafts for nose revision surgery:


these are usually invisible

scar guard, kelocote , mederma can help

laser may be last resort if needed

softness is common

distortion of ear more unusual

Removal of ear cartilage does not usually change the appearance of the ear. Once the ear is healed, it's unusual for the removal of cartilage to change the shape as long as the cartilage at the outer part of the "bowl" of the ear is preserved. The scar is another issue. This can be visible if placed on the outside of the ear. Because of this, I always remove the cartilage with an incision on the backside of the ear where it's hidden. When this is done, it's very unusual for anyone to detect that cartilage was borrowed from the ear for rhinoplasty of reconstructive surgery.Stephen Weber MD, FACS

Ear cartilage is often used for rhinoplasty grafting purposes.  It usually is taken from the conceal bowl and should not destabilize the ear.

Generally speaking it should be very rare to have a change in the appearance of the ear after cartilage removal. One must take care to avoid taking too much from the vertical ridge of the conchal bowl which can lead to deprojection of the ear. Also if the incision is made right over where the cartilage is taken this could lead to a stepoff, generally you should make the incision away from where the cartilage is removed. You should talk to your surgeon.

If the cartilage was removed from the bowl of your ear for a rhinoplasty revision there will be no long term problems with the shape of your ear or a risk of ear collapse. If the scar is still visible 8 months after surgery talk to your surgeon about topical gels, laser treatment, or scar revision.