meatoplasty in canal wall down surgery: our experience and literature review

introduction: meatoplasty is the final and essential step in performing effective canal wall down surgery for chronic otitis media. in this article we review some previous techniques and discuss our preferred method. materials and methods: in this observational case series study, we used this technique in 53 patients (28 male and 25 female) between january 2005 and january 2008. our survey was completed in 31 patients. results: twenty-six patients (83.9%) said their ear appeared normal after the procedure, but five patients (16.1%) complained of some minor change in the shape of their ear. twenty-nine patients (93.5%) had a completely wide ear canal. the ear canal had some degree of stenosis in two patients (6.5%) post-operatively. conclusion: this technique offers good functional and cosmetic results with minimal manipulation and minimal anatomic disruption.