Ear pinning.

[melly407]

My DD2 is due to have op soon to pin her ears back. . I am in fact waiting for the phone call.
She has very prominant ears and even at such a young age she is aware of them, asking me things like "can you see my ears through my hair mummy, i can feel them" it breaks my heart. She is such a lovely looking girl, i dont want her to feel self concious about her looks when i could help do something about it.
When i tell you her age, people i guess will be disgusted? she is 4yrs old.
She has not asked for this op, due to her age, but she is aware.
Dont want her to suffer, would give my life for my 3 kids, through reading another blog, pain managment is high on my agenda.

[kitkatqueen]

Hi, I fitted ear buddies on my sons ears when he was 3 months old to avoid exactly the operation that your daughter now needs.

I think you are doing absolutley the right thing in having the op done, do it now while she is young and won't remeber much. Also before it becomes a problem. My friend had her daughters ears done when she was quite young and took a lot of flak, she shrugged it off, her daughters ears look lovely,it was absolutely the right thing to do.

Good Luck, to both of you.

[melly407]

Thank you so much for your response, i have had alot of comments from friends and some family, i do find myself wandering if i have made the right decision.
I think the same as you, it being better whilst she is young.
i will post when she gets it done. thank you once again.

[kiltycoldbum]

take it from someone who went through to the age of 14 with massive stick out ears that poked through her hair you are doing the right thing.
However check that the person you have been led to believe is doing the operation is actually doing it! mine were used as practice without permission by students and as a result one kind of worked the other didnt! i was heartbroken and the day when i would get to wear my hair up still didnt arrive!
They did immediately offer to redo them whenever i wanted as they acknowledged it didnt work.

I eventually at 20 plucked up the courage purely because Dr David Gault, who is the master at this op did it for me! The bandages are a bit embarrasing but i didnt care! Its only a few days! It does hurt yes, you need to sleep propped up on pillows and to be doped up but it is so so worth it, the years of mental agony and feeling shit about yourself are so crap, the embarrassment at photos of yourself were you see your ear poking out, being called quavers or fa cup or dumbo is crap. your friends and relatives have not lived through it. your friends and relatives have not sat there and cried and spent ages sat infront of a mirror holding them back wondering what they would look like with normal ears, so to be perfectly honest tell them to poke out and mind there own!

Mine are as good as they will ever be, no they still dont look like "normal ears" but you know what, you certainly wouldnt look twice at me in the street, its only when you actually really look youd think "oh shes had something done" and im sitting here with my hair up, like it is everyday! yay!

incidentally, my daughter has one ear that is big, she doesnt know it (shes 3) its never been brought to her attention but the day she begins to get upset or become self conscious i will have no hesitation in saving her the years of crippling self consciousness it causes! I did get ear buddies but a 4.5 months it was too late and she kept pulling at them

[CaptainKarvol]

It is the only cosmetic operation our local NHS does without question. Everything else cosmetic needs an 'exceptional circumstances' argument, but pinning ears they just do. It's safe and it works. Go for it.

[kitkatqueen]

Kiltycoldbum, Good for you for getting it done and for trying the ear buddies - they were a lot of hassle in a way, but i was lucky that they never bothered him so he had them on for about 6 months ( I did have to modify them a bit to make them stay put for more than a day or 2 and I found some alternative tape that was much better) his ears still aren't perfect, but like you say they are not going to be looked twice at in the street. If he tells me that they bother him then we will be booking an appointment with dr gault ourselves. They are nowhere near as bad as they were before. I am due no 4 in august and I still have the earbuddies so this time I will be hot on any problem.

Good luck with your little girl.

[melly407]

Where does this Dr Gauly work? DD2 is due to have hers done in Lewisham Hospital.
Eagerly awaiting post this a.m.
Kilty, im so sorry that you suffered so, this is what i want to try and prevent and by getting it done when she is younger and b4 she starts big school she will get over it and forget about it and not have to suffer any mental touture.
As they have to wear there hair up at school, there no way of hiding it unless i cut her hair short.

[kitkatqueen]

Hi Melly, sorry - I only get on here when the kids are i bed, he was at gt ormand st....

Check the link below - it should have all the info u need.

www.davidgault.co.uk/

There's also quite a bit of info on the earbuddies website - any search for earbuddies should find it for you - best of all luck. KKQx

[Madigan]

Kitkatqueen, which tape was better? I have just had Dr Gault fix ear buddies to my 7wo DD today.... he told me to buy some super wide tape off the ear buddies website - have you found an even better tape? Any other suggestions re ear buddies? She will have to use them for about 3 months he said ....

[hellsbelles]

Madigan - I've just had them fitted my Mr Gault on my 3 1/2 month old. Out of interest why did he think 3 months for your LO? I thought it was only a couple of months at that age.

[BettySwollux]

I had my ears pinned at age 7, I was being bullied and would come home in tears often.
So glad I had them done, I have lovely ears now, and you'd never know I used to look like the love child of Prince Charles and Charlotte Church.

Yes, it is painful, I still remember having the bandages changed when they were stuck to my ears with blood, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Good luck.

[sorkycakey]

Ds2 has very prominent ears but we were told he'd be better off waiting until he's 6 for the op as there is more chance of success.
I think the reason given was that the cartilage is still a bit soft any younger.

We tried the ear buddies from 6 weeks old for 3 months and they did work. He had beautifully flat ears for 2 weeks but then they just protruded again.

Dd2 is looking like she has similar ears, bless her. I'm not sure whether to use a headband when she's asleep, or just see how they turn out and get her the op too.

I had my one odd ear corrected at 22 yo after much teasing and a dent in confidence.
It's absolutely the right thing to do for your child, trust me it's torturous growing up being so visibly different, she will thank you

[hellsbelles]

sorkycakey - I'm gutted to hear they didn't work for you. I'm not sure whether to continue or not now! it must have been so frustrating to have had them on him for so long and then the protrusion to reappear. I did read on the instructions that if the correction started to lessen then you needed to put them back on for a couple of weeks. Did you try that and it still didn't work?

[sorkycakey]

We gave up and figured we'd see if he grew into them if that makes sense.
He hasn't, they protrude a lot.
He's 5 now and homeschooled, so there isn't the problem of teasing to deal with for us at the moment more to the point he doesn't realise they protrude.

I think we'll wait until either he notices them or he's old enough to undergo the op without GA, probably about 10 years old.
I simply cannot justify risking my sons life for what is essentially cosmetic surgery.

Good luck with it

[hellsbelles]

thanks sorkycakey, we'll keep trying - Hopefully your little chap might still grow into his ears...my brother really did have huge ears until about 18 then suddenly he just looks right (he's gorgeous in fact and is often approached by model scouts!)....so you never know....I never did though - but just resort to wearing my hair down!!

[LynetteScavo]

Melly - if you are still around, how did the OP go?

[melly407]

Hiya,
well dd2 had her op, recovered and her new ears look totally amazing. anyone that has doubts, worries/ questions etc, please feel free to email me.
i can give start to finish on whole procedure if wanted. best disision i ever made. dd2 is over the moon. xx

[mummytowillow]

I had my ears done when I was 11, it wasn't that painful, the worst part was the itching afterwards because of the bandages, nearly drove me mad!

My daughter has prominent ears to, she is 3 we got the Ear Buddies but she hated them and they made her ears so sore? So we gave up on them, we did start too late with them really as she had hair, if you start when they are first born I think they can work wonders?

I've decided to leave her to make her own decision when she is older, I hope thats the right thing to do?

[redjoker]

Can anyone here recommend any surgeons at all? Our 5 yr old needs this surgery and looking at Private because we assume NHS will be a few years wait?