[Form stability after ear correction using the anterior scoring technique: a prospective study to compare anterior and the posterior approaches].

BACKGROUND

Protruding ears are usually caused by an overdeveloped concha and the lack of an anthelical fold. To reconstruct this fold, we applied the open anterior cartilage scoring technique. There are two different approaches for this technique, anterior access or posterior access. We have used the latter for years. After finding some minor partial relapses, we started a prospective study to compare the objective results of both techniques.

PATIENTS AND METHOD

Forty patients underwent surgery (20 with anterior access and 20 with posterior access). The position of the ear to the head, which was defined by several standardized points of the ear (distance between the helical rim and the mastoid), was measured preoperatively, 3 weeks postoperatively after removing the anchoring splint sutures, and 3 months postoperatively.

RESULTS

The differences between the measurements in the third week and third month show postoperative stability.

CONCLUSIONS

We could achieve the same stability using both techniques, but obtained more symmetrical results with posterior access.