Re: Query about ears sticking out

[Guest guest]

,

It's funny you should bring this up now, because I was just

commenting to the wife last night that Clara's ear is looking

decidedly like it is not going to get better just from the helmet

making the angle between ear and helmet more acute. Maybe it's a

phase of development we're both seeing that will pass. Not at all

likely, I admit, but...

My wife is adamantly opposed to correcting the ear. To ease my

parental guilt, we made a pact to provide her with plastic surgery

for the ear if she ever wants it. A family member of mine had that

done in the sixties, so there's no doubt they've perfected the

procedure. An ear is largely made of scar tissue, collagen, anyway,

so it seems the ideal organ for resection. Less risky cosmetically

than messing about with one's nose.

I would have used that splint immediately after birth IF A DOCTOR HAD

TOLD US ABOUT IT, >:[ but it looks to me like something an 18-month

old could and would easily destroy when unattended. One thing on

that website makes me feel better, because we prevented Clara's

grandmother from doing it:

> Never be tempted simply to stick back the ear without the splint in

> position. The ear will not be corrected, and it is highly likely

> that the rim will become permanently notched or flattened.

http://www.earbuddies.co.uk/pws/Content.ice?page=FIT & pgForward=content

Clara has a slight " bat ear " on the left, which is her anterior ear.

Once again, it seems our children have mirroring problems, and

Clara's helmet doesn't touch that ear (not from the rear, anyway) so

I would doubt it has anything to do with the helmet. Referring to

the diagrams on that Ear Buddies webpage, Clara's antihelix is absent

from the top of the ear. What do you see in ? These problems,

plagio and bat ear, are known to go together:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1647450

--

Thad Launderville

Montpelier, VT

Clara age 18 months, STARband since 8/10

[Guest guest]

Thanks.  's ear actually looks a bit like this picture:http://www.earbuddies.co.uk/pws/images/px_before_after6.jpg

though not quite as bad.  Both of his ears stick out, but only the right has the floppy ear.  The article is interesting, though they have more questions than answers  

Best,-On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 11:14 AM, Thad Launderville <p38thadl@...> wrote:

 

,

It's funny you should bring this up now, because I was just

commenting to the wife last night that Clara's ear is looking

decidedly like it is not going to get better just from the helmet

making the angle between ear and helmet more acute. Maybe it's a

phase of development we're both seeing that will pass. Not at all

likely, I admit, but...

My wife is adamantly opposed to correcting the ear. To ease my

parental guilt, we made a pact to provide her with plastic surgery

for the ear if she ever wants it. A family member of mine had that

done in the sixties, so there's no doubt they've perfected the

procedure. An ear is largely made of scar tissue, collagen, anyway,

so it seems the ideal organ for resection. Less risky cosmetically

than messing about with one's nose.

I would have used that splint immediately after birth IF A DOCTOR HAD

TOLD US ABOUT IT, >:[ but it looks to me like something an 18-month

old could and would easily destroy when unattended. One thing on

that website makes me feel better, because we prevented Clara's

grandmother from doing it:

> Never be tempted simply to stick back the ear without the splint in

> position. The ear will not be corrected, and it is highly likely

> that the rim will become permanently notched or flattened.

http://www.earbuddies.co.uk/pws/Content.ice?page=FIT & pgForward=content

Clara has a slight " bat ear " on the left, which is her anterior ear.

Once again, it seems our children have mirroring problems, and

Clara's helmet doesn't touch that ear (not from the rear, anyway) so

I would doubt it has anything to do with the helmet. Referring to

the diagrams on that Ear Buddies webpage, Clara's antihelix is absent

from the top of the ear. What do you see in ? These problems,

plagio and bat ear, are known to go together:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1647450

--

Thad Launderville

Montpelier, VT

Clara age 18 months, STARband since 8/10

[Guest guest]

On Oct 14, 2009, at 12:06 AM, Kathy Jensen wrote:

> Both of his ears stick out, but only the right has the floppy ear.

Yeah, both of my daughter's ears stick out more than most kids. And

her identical sister's, too. It seems like Ear Buddies flattens the

whole ear down, so it's unclear whether the actual defect would be

corrected prior to the onset of an asymmetrical, and to me,

undesirable, cosmetic effect.

But it's got me thinking:

Maybe a little Liquid Skin adhesive (Dollar Tree, my medical supply

store) on the *back* of the ear could bend a new fold... with

some kind of mat material inserted to bridge the crease and maintain

circulation. Tape would only have to last a couple hours, by then it

should be set. I think there's enough elasticity in the ear skin to

avoid constricting growth along the rim. That glue is supposed to

biodegrade, and I hear it doesn't stick as well as regular super-glue

anyway, so what's the risk in trying?

--

Thad

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I agree that gluing the ears is most likely a bad idea.

I am not convinced the band is all that can be done for some ears other

than surgery. We do not know whether or not the ear bend is related to

the plagio. CT told us the right ear is anterior from the plagio.

The splints my husband ordered are designed by a group of doctors in

the UK. They are small, not bothering my son anymore, and held in

place by a small amount of medical tape. Personally, I wouldn't have

surgery done for the ears and feel more comfortable trying the Ear

Buddies. If anyone knows of any possible medical side effects, please

share. Of course, we will have to use them for several months and they

may not help.

Best,

Kathy

nwilkens2275 wrote:

With regard to the issue of ears sticking out, I (and the other

moderators of the plagio board) do not condone anyone glueing their

child's ears down. I personally would never try such a thing, and we

would encourage everyone to use their own common sense AND consult a

doctor before doing something like that.

First of all, you would have to keep them glued for many many months

for anything to stay long term (if at all), and how does anyone know

what the long term effects of glue on the skin are? Second of all,

you're already doing as much as you can by using the band. If it

doesn't fix the ears then, sadly, the ears can't be fixed. And thirdly,

there is a surgical procedure to correct ears that stick out, that I

seriously believe would be less damaging than glue, if it ever became a

self esteem issue down the road.

At some point you just have to accept the ears and give your child lots

of love. I think that's the best you can do.

Jake-3 (DOCBand Grad 9/08)

>

> > We've ordered another set of the splints since our last

splint will

> > probably end up lost soon. We figure it will take several

months

> > for much noticeable results. If we last that long and it

works,

> > we'll post to the group.

>

[Guest guest]

The band won't help at all with a bent ear (where the cartiledge is bent over at

the top, that is not related to plagio that I've ever heard of and the band

doesn't touch that portion of the ear so wouldn't be able to help anyway), as I

believe your splints are trying to correct. I was strictly referring to the

placement/alignment and the extent to which the ears stick out. I believe the

surgery is a " simple " cut and tack job to make the ear sit closer to the head. I

know of at least one actor that had to have had it done (though I don't know him

personally - his one ear sticks WAY out in an earlier movie in his career and no

longer does so), and one of our moderators knows of a friend growing up that had

it done as a child. I'm just saying it's an option down the road that I would

seriously consider if my child had any self esteem issues (or wanted to make it

big in Hollywood :0)). You hear of kids getting nose jobs as birthday

presents...so I guess anything is possible.

Jake-3 (DOCBand Grad 9/08)

> > >

> > > > We've ordered another set of the splints since our last splint will

> > > > probably end up lost soon. We figure it will take several months

> > > > for much noticeable results. If we last that long and it works,

> > > > we'll post to the group.

> > >

> >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks. I'm happy to hear it is not related to the plagio! The ear

doesn't bother me so much if it is truly unrelated. I want as few of

reminders as possible of plagio, since it has been so emotionally

stressful for me.

The good thing is 's head still looks like it is improving, so for

now I'm feeling a little better. I'm not looking forward to the next

scan, since the asymmetry numbers usually don't reflect the improvement

we see and then I get depressed again.

Best,

Kathy, mom to 16.5 months, 4.5 months in Starband

nwilkens2275 wrote:

The band won't help at all with a bent ear (where the cartiledge

is bent over at the top, that is not related to plagio that I've ever

heard of and the band doesn't touch that portion of the ear so wouldn't

be able to help anyway), as I believe your splints are trying to

correct. I was strictly referring to the placement/alignment and the

extent to which the ears stick out. I believe the surgery is a "simple"

cut and tack job to make the ear sit closer to the head. I know of at

least one actor that had to have had it done (though I don't know him

personally - his one ear sticks WAY out in an earlier movie in his

career and no longer does so), and one of our moderators knows of a

friend growing up that had it done as a child. I'm just saying it's an

option down the road that I would seriously consider if my child had

any self esteem issues (or wanted to make it big in Hollywood :0)). You

hear of kids getting nose jobs as birthday presents...so I guess

anything is possible.

Jake-3 (DOCBand Grad 9/08)

> > >

> > > > We've ordered another set of the splints since our

last splint will

> > > > probably end up lost soon. We figure it will take

several months

> > > > for much noticeable results. If we last that long

and it works,

> > > > we'll post to the group.

> > >

> >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

On Oct 19, 2009, at 11:54 AM, nwilkens2275 wrote:

> The band won't help at all with a bent ear (where the cartiledge is

> bent over at the top, that is not related to plagio that I've ever

> heard of and the band doesn't touch that portion of the ear so

> wouldn't be able to help anyway), as I believe your splints are

> trying to correct. I was strictly referring to the placement/

> alignment and the extent to which the ears stick out.

The research I cited earlier in this thread introduced a theory on

the co-incidence of " bat ear " and plagio in paragraph 6, page 207.

> http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1647450

What I failed to cite is another article that impressed me in coming

to an understanding of the possible etiology of plagio like Clara's,

being noticed soon after birth:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/pmc/articles/PMC2012934/?page=2

The view that emerges is that, in a cramped or crowded intrauterine

environment, the pelvic bone and uterine wall can constitute a poorly

shaped, upside-down cranial molding device, one which *can* impact

the ear.

Hopefully, medicine will someday soon catch up with the Back-to-Sleep

etiology of plagio, but I think cases like Clara's will continue to

appear with near-constant frequency. I would hope that orthotics

manufacturers of the future can integrate an unobtrusive ear splint

in redesigns of the current helmets and bands.

--

Thad Launderville

Montpelier, VT

Clara age 18 months, 2 months in STARband