ANALYSIS OF THE CONCHAL BOWL DEPTH IN PROMINENT EARS PRE AND POST OTOPLASTY

The prominent ear is the most common congenital ear disorder. Some of its discovered features include the overdeveloped concha and the underdeveloped antihelix. The present study focuses on the analysis of the conchal bowl, while assessing its depth before and after otoplasty. Despite its anatomical and surgical importance for the correction of protruding ears, that ear structure has been little discussed in the literature. With the aim of contributing, by providing fresh information, an attempt was made to recognize a surgical parameter of the concha, while assisting in the perception of the depth change after its partial resection, as well as to compare that change to the thickness of the studied cartilage, and to show the statistical data of that structure in the prominent ear. While reviewing the data from the study, it was noted that the mean conchal bowl depth of patients with prominent ears pre-otoplasty surgery was approximately 17 millimeters (mm). In the late postoperative period, a value of approximately 12 mm was reached. That means a mean depth difference of 5 mm in the surgical evolution, with no statistically significant difference between sexes, ear cartilage grading, and operated ear side. Most of the ears (96.9%) showed an increase in the conchal depth postoperatively, which is the main goal of every surgeon when performing conchal resection.