Will Otoplasty Help Headphones Stay in the Ears Better?

Otoplasty is to modify the external structures of your ears, and doesn’t affect the actual size of your ear canal entrance, where your earphones are put in. For this reason, I don’t think it would help you with this issue.

Otoplasty surgery is specifically designed to pin back the ears and reduce the amount that the concha or bowl of the ear sticks out. While the procedure is primarily thought of as an aesthetic procedure, it will reduce the size of the conchal bowl if done correctly and may allow you to more comfortable wear headphones and ear buds. I hope this information helps.

Otoplasty will help reduce prominence of the ears but will not affect the way ear buds fit. If this is your main objective it is easier and less expensive to have a custom set of ear bud headphones made for you.

Most earphone "buds" are placed within the cavum conchae of the ear. In many patients undergoing otoplasty, the cavum is reduced. This potentially could have the opposite effect you desire of making the earphones more difficult to place and retain.

Generally speaking, an otoplasty should not meaningfully affect the fit of ear buds. The exception to this is in cases where the antitragus (the little cartilage protrusion above above the earlobe) is very laterally curled. This anatomy occurs in a minority of patients, but otoplasty can make such an antitragus appear more prominent, thus requiring a reduction of the antitragus as well. But the antitragus is one of the edges that can help hold ear buds in place.
So, although uncommon, an otoplasty could make ear buds fit worse. That said, I've reduced the antitragus when needed and I've not had a patient mention a poor fit to their headphones afterwords (yet...).
All the best,
--DCP