Earlobe Repair

The shape and size of the lower part of your ears, specifically your earlobes, contributes to the overall aesthetic of your ear. Men and women over the age of 20 years old have an average earlobe length of about 1.97 cm to 2.01 cm. The left is generally shorter than the right, making asymmetry normal. The average earlobe is relatively flat and a little plump. But your earlobes don’t share these characteristics.

Elongated, misshapen and stretched earlobes

One or both of your earlobes may be:

• Overly long, due to aging or being stretched out from wearing heavy earrings and studs
• Torn or lacerated (usually from wearing earrings), so much so that the lower border of your lobe is separated into pieces
• Irregularly shaped due to congenital cleft earlobe deformity (“Coloboma Lobuli”)
• Severely asymmetrical due to genetics or trauma
• So thick that it sticks out a bit from the rest of your ear
• Stretched out with a big hole in it, caused by body piercing with gauges and studs

These issues may not be damaging to your physical health, but they can definitely affect your appearance. More importantly, they’re damaging to how you perceive yourself.

Loboplasty, or earlobe reshaping and reduction surgery

Reshaping and resizing your earlobes can be safely done with loboplasty, a type of otoplasty. Loboplasty is the technical term for earlobe reshaping/resizing surgery. I regularly perform this surgery on children and adults who have an undesirable earlobe appearance. In adults, common reasons for the surgery is ptosis (sagging) caused by aging. Results improve their earlobes, giving my patients the normal appearance they want.

For simple correction, your treatment may only take 15 to 45 minutes to complete. Extensive correction can require up to an hour or more. Usually, this is necessary if cartilage is affected.