BACKGROUND Autologous and synthetic nasal and auricular frameworks require skin coverage. The surgeon's decides on the appropriate skin coverage for reconstruction based on colour matching, subcutaneous tissue thickness, expertise and experience. One of the major complications of placing subcutaneous implants is the risk of extrusion (migration through the skin) and infection. However, knowledg...

Auricular malformations, which impose a significant social and psychological burden, are currently treated using ear prostheses, synthetic implants or autologous implants derived from rib cartilage. Advances in the field of regenerative medicine and biofabrication provide the possibility to engineer functional cartilage with intricate architectures and complex shapes using patient-derived or do...

Objective. To identify the optimum treatment protocol for insomnia among auricular, body, and abdominal needling methods. Methods. A three-factor (3 needling protocols) and three-level experimental scheme was designed based on orthogonal method. 54 patients of insomnia differentiated as internal harassment of phlegm-heat syndrome were given two courses of acupuncture treatment (each with 20 tim...

BACKGROUND Auricular or high helical ear piercing is an increasingly widespread fashion trend that is associated with an increased risk of potentially serious post-piercing complications such as auricular perichondritis. CASE REPORT An 11-year-old girl developed severe auricular perichondritis following piercing of the upper helical cartilage of her ear at a hairdressing salon. Four days post...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the aesthetic and functional outcomes of a full-thickness skin graft and a separately harvested auricular cartilage graft for nasal alar defects created by Mohs micrographic surgery. DESIGN Twenty patients with deep Mohs micrographic surgery defects of the nasal ala who underwent reconstruction with a full-thickness skin graft and an auricular cartilage graft were prospe...

BACKGROUND Due to an increasing number of elderly people suffering from major depression and potential side effects of the prescribed drugs, the introduction of new therapeutic approaches is needed. Currently, in Germany, auricular acupuncture is no part of clinical care for gerontopsychiatric patients. Based on promising clinical experiences and existing evidence for treating addiction and tra...

We were presented with two cases of relapsing polychondritis (RP) associated with different types of ocular inflammation. The first case was a 35-year-old man who had bilateral hyperemic conjunctiva and ocular pain, and was referred to Chiba University Hospital with a diagnosis of episcleritis refractory. He was treated with dexamethasone eye drops. He developed tinnitus, deafness in both ears,...

BACKGROUND Based on evidence from several other tissues, cartilage stem/progenitor cells in the auricular cartilage presumably contribute to tissue development or homeostasis of the auricle. However, no definitive studies have identified or characterized a stem/progenitor population in mice auricle. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) label-retaining technique wa...

BACKGROUND Advances in three-dimensional imaging and three-dimensional printing technology have expanded the frontier of presurgical design for microtia reconstruction from two-dimensional curved lines to three-dimensional perspectives. This study presents an algorithm for combining three-dimensional surface imaging, computer-assisted design, and three-dimensional printing to create patient-spe...