RECONSTRUCTIVE PLASTIC SURGERY OF THE ABSENT EAR WITH NECROCARTILAGE

Abstract

The individuality of the ear cartilage, and its position away from the head, makes reconstruction of the absent ear one of the most complex of all plastic problems. One of the modern pioneers in the work, Updegraff, so aptly said that he like many others, including Blair, Brown, Gillies, New, Padgett, Kirkham and Pierce, had the same attitude toward their reconstructed ears as a girl has toward her legs: "They're all right but I wish they were prettier." <h3>HISTORICAL REVIEW</h3> In the sixteenth century Tagliacozzi¹devised a method to repair partial losses of the ear by utilizing skin flaps from the scalp and neck. von Szymanowski²in 1870 definitely outlined a technic for restoration of the auricle: He raised flaps around the scalp and mastoid region, folded the tissue on itself, sutured the margins and then grafted the resultant raw defect. In 1908 Schmieden,³utilizing autogenous rib