Correction of Cup Ear Using the Mattress Suture

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Constricted ear, which is named by Tanzer includes lop ear, cup ear, and sort of prominent ear. It has been classified into three groups by Tanzer. Especially the group I and IIA have been corrected by banner flap, Musgrave's technique, tumbling concha-cartilage flap, reversed banner flap and others. However, these techniques were too invasive for correcting mild degree of deformity. Therefore, we corrected the ear with mattress suture which is simple and less invasive. Method: The operations were done for 5 patients from March 2005 to April 2008. All the cases were unilateral ears with constriction including helix and scaphoid fossa without differences in length between both ears. Though a posterior auricular skin incision, the folded cartilage is exposed and two parallel incisions on superior crus were made. After mattress suturing in cartilage, the superior crus of antihelix was formed and its force enables the folded portion to be in a normal anatomic position. Result: All the 5 patients got satisfactory results. There were no complications like hematoma or skin necrosis, and no recurrence during follow-up period(the average period was 11 months). And we couldn't recognize the difference between height of both auricles. CONCLUSION: Mattress suture is simple, less invasive, and suitable in correcting mild deformity of constricted ear with better result, so here we suggest the method.