An Application And Study Of Ear Molding In Newborns And Infants With Auricular Deformities

Background and Objective:When newborns are born,the incidence of auricular deformities may reach up to 43.46%-55.2%.The abnormality of the auricle destroys the beauty of the face,brings children extraordinary mental stress,and it also brings difficulties on work and life in the future that ordinary people can’t experience.The standard treatment is otoplasty,that operates when children are older than 6-8 years.Otoplasty is still the best choice,especially for children with auricular malformations.However,surgeries may bring children physical and psychological trauma.Noninvasive,effective nonsurgical treatments are more acceptable for children with auricular deformities.Neonatal auricle cartilage is very soft,and has good plasticity,but the elasticity of auricle cartilage gets worse as we age.As we know,some congenital auricular deformities such as lop-ear or Stahl’s ear may have a certain degree of self-correction or even self-extinction.Therefore,non-surgical treatment requires an appropriate timing of intervention to ensure the efficacy of treatment without overtreatment.Differences in the treatment timing,treatment cycle and complication rate may vary between domestic and foreign newborns because of race,size,growth and development,diet structure and parental perception.In this study,newborns and infants with congenital auricular deformities were treated with ear molding,and we studied the curative effects of the ear correction system.Methods:32 patients who had no other diseases only with congenital auricular deformities were chosen in the ENT department of Children’s Hospital of Wuxi.Patients underwent ear molding using the ear correction system which was produced by Jiangsu Deweilan Medical Equipment co.LTD,after the parents signed the informed consent book.We followed up 3 months when the treatment was finished.The differences of therapeutic effect,the length of treatment,the incidences of complications and the recurrence rate were compared with patients who started treatment at different ages.Results:32 patients with congenital auricular deformities were aging from 10 days to 152 days,the mean age were 56.50 days,the mean time of treatment were 21 days,effective rate was 90.63%.Among all the cases,8 got skin ulcer.All cases were followed up in 3 months after the treatments were finished,the recurrence rate was O.The results showed that the curative effect was negatively correlated with age,and the length of treatment was positive correlated with age.Conclusion:It is a safe and effective treatment using ear correction system in newborns and infants with congenital auricular deformities.Patient who is younger has better effect,needs less treatment time,and has less incidence of complications.The effective rate can be enhanced and the length of treatment can be shortened if we start the treatment as early as possible.It may be able to avoid an operation which may bring complications.