The psychosocial consequences of reconstruction of severe ear defects or third-degree microtia with rib cartilage.

Background: There are few data focusing on the improvement of psychosocial functioning and self-esteem in patients with congenital or acquired severe auricular defects.

Objective: We investigated the satisfaction of patients following auricular reconstruction with rib cartilage.

Methods: One hundred patients treated for reconstruction with rib cartilage for congenital or traumatic auricular defects have been evaluated retrospectively for changes in self-esteem, performance ability, and psychosocial attitude using a clinically established questionnaire, Frankfurter Selbstkonzeptskalen (FSKN).

Borderline indications for ear reconstruction.

While the indication for an ear reconstruction with rib cartilage is clear in pediatric patients and patients without previous surgery, there are borderline cases in which neither a reconstruction nor a prosthesis seems to be first choice. Within the last 6 years, approximately 120 patients were treated with a reconstruction with rib cartilage and 20 with a prosthesis at our hospital. Patients without extensively scarred periauricular tissue clearly benefit by a reconstruction with cartilage.

A comparison of ear reattachment methods: a review of 25 years since Pennington.

Background: A failed ear reattachment tends to complicate subsequent reconstruction with autogenous rib cartilage. The various reattachment methods differ in technical demand, in the secondary damage of periauricular tissue, and in aesthetic outcome. In the past 25 years, the microsurgical method has proven to be especially successful.