Can I Make My Ears Less Stiff After Otoplasty Surgery?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I had two otoplasty surgeries last year. On the first surgery the surgeon worked only with sutures and there wasn’t a big change. On the second surgery he worked on the conchal bowl and the results were more what I wanted. The issue is my ears still feel stiff and unnatural and it makes me uncomfortable how they don’t bend how they used to. If I remove the sutures and I guess scar tissue will they feel like they used to? My main issue was the conchal bowl so I don’t really mind if the anti helix changes back to how it used to be, just really wanted them to feel more natural.

A:Whether you remove the sutures or not your ears are not ever going back to a completely feel in terms of stiffness…they will always be a bit stiffer than before the otoplasty surgery. There certainly is no harm in opening the ear up and removing sutures and scar. But how much improvement you get in the feel of them is unpredictable.

Dr. Barry Eppley

World-Renowned Plastic Surgeon