Feijen Michelle M W, van Cruchten Cas, Payne Phileemon E, van der Hulst Rene R W J
Department of Plastic Surgery, Zuyderland Medical Center, Geleen, the Netherlands.
Department of Plastic Surgery, The Craniofacial and Plastic Surgery Center Houston, Houston, Tex.
Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open. 2020 Nov 24;8(11):e3250. doi: 10.1097/GOX.0000000000003250. eCollection 2020 Nov.
Congenital ear anomalies have been known to cause lasting psychosocial consequences for children. Congenital ear anomalies can generally be divided into malformations (chondro-cutaneous defect) and deformations (misshaped pinna). Operative techniques are the standard for correction at a minimal age of 5-7, exposing the children to teasing and heavy complications. Ear molding is a non-operative technique to treat ear anomalies at a younger age. Having been popularized since the 1980s, its use has increased over the past decades. However, uncertainties about its properties remain. Therefore, this review was conducted to look at what is known and what has been newly discovered in the last decade, comparing different treatment methods and materials. A literature search was performed on PubMed, and 16 articles, published in the last decade, were included. It was found that treatment initiated at an early age showed higher satisfactory outcome rates and a shorter duration of treatment. A shorter duration of treatment also led to higher satisfactory rates, which might be attributable to age at initiation, individual moldability, and treatment compliance. Complications were minor in all articles. Recurrence rate was low and mostly concerned prominent ears, which proved to be the most difficult to correct deformity as well. Malformations, however, were even more difficult to treat than deformations. Our analysis shows ear molding to be a successful treatment method for ear anomalies with a preference for early diagnosis and treatment.
先天性耳部畸形已知会给儿童带来持久的心理社会影响。先天性耳部畸形一般可分为畸形（软骨皮肤缺损）和变形（耳廓形状异常）。手术技术是5至7岁最低年龄时进行矫正的标准方法，但会让儿童遭受他人取笑且引发严重并发症。耳部塑形是一种在儿童较小时治疗耳部畸形的非手术技术。自20世纪80年代普及以来，其应用在过去几十年中有所增加。然而，其特性仍存在不确定性。因此，本综述旨在研究过去十年中已知的情况和新发现，比较不同的治疗方法和材料。在PubMed上进行了文献检索，纳入了过去十年发表的16篇文章。研究发现，早期开始治疗显示出更高的满意度和更短的治疗时间。治疗时间较短也导致更高的满意度，这可能归因于开始治疗的年龄、个体可塑性和治疗依从性。所有文章中的并发症都很轻微。复发率较低，主要涉及招风耳，事实证明招风耳也是最难矫正的畸形。然而，畸形比变形更难治疗。我们的分析表明，耳部塑形是一种治疗耳部畸形的成功方法，优先考虑早期诊断和治疗。
