A novel postauricular revolving door island flap and cartilage graft combination was employed to correct a large defect on the anterior ear of an 84-year-old man who underwent Mohs micrographic surgery for an antihelical squamous cell carcinoma. The defect measured 4.6 × 2.4 cm and spanned the antihelix, scapha, a small portion of the helix, and a large segment of underlying cartilage, with los...

Relapsing polychondritis is a cartilage tissue disease characterized by inflammatory and destructive episodes. Elastic cartilage of the ear and nose, hyaline cartilage of the joints, hyaline cartilage of vertebra and trachea are the main involvement areas. Also organs having proteoglycan structure such as eyes, heart, blood vessels, and the inner ear can be affected. In this article otologic fi...

OBJECTIVE To describe how severe ear deformities after otoplasty can be corrected. METHODS The correction of creases is possible through readaptation of the cartilage edges followed by revision otoplasty using suture techniques in the reconstructed cartilage. In the case of defect formation or extreme thinning of the cartilage, an appealing auricular shape is achieved by the use of porous pol...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS The mechanical properties of normal auricular cartilage provide a benchmark against which to characterize changes in auricular structure/function due to genetic defects creating phenotypic abnormalities in collagen subtypes. Such properties also provide inputs/targets for auricular reconstruction scaffold design. Several studies report the biomechanical properties for sept...

Prominent ear is a relatively common deformity of the external ear, with an incidence of approximately 5% in Caucasians [1]. The main anatomical features of prominent ear are protrusion of the upper half of the helix with a wide conchoscaphal angle that results from failure of the antihelix to fold properly, in conjunction with a wide conchomastoid angle, deep conchal bowl, or absence of the he...

Currently, patients with external ear deformities rely on hyaline cartilage grafts or silicone prosthesis to provide them with adequate external ear reconstruction. Scaffold-free auricular tissue engineering provides a means of creating patient specific cartilage constructs solely using their own cells, ensuring biocompatibility, long term stability, and reduced morbidity. Here, we have develop...

INTRODUCTION Like a fingerprint, ear shape is a unique personal feature that should be reconstructed with a high fidelity during reconstructive surgery. Ear cartilage tissue engineering (TE) advantageously offers the possibility to use novel 3D manufacturing techniques to reconstruct the ear, thus allowing for a detailed auricular shape. However it also requires detailed patient-specific images...

BACKGROUND Because of the relatively similar size of organs to human and the physiological and structural similarities, the use of porcine as xenograft donors is progressing very actively. In this study, we analyzed the characteristics of porcine ear cartilage and evaluated its suitability as graft material in reconstructive and cosmetic surgery. METHODS The auricular cartilage was harvested ...

BACKGROUND Articular cartilage has been the focus of multiple strategies to improve its regenerative/ repair capacity. The Murphy Roths Large (MRL/MpJ) "super-healer" mouse demonstrates an unusual enhanced regenerative capacity in many tissues and provides an opportunity to further study endogenous cartilage repair. The objective of this study was to test whether the super-healer phenotype coul...

BACKGROUND Some loop ear surgical procedures include cartilage section or abrasion, while others involve antihelix folding by simple suture. METHODS Our results with the Mustardé technique are presented. This procedure avoids an aggressive action on the ear cartilage and makes antihelix folding easier. RESULTS Good aesthetic results were obtained in all our patients, with a low complication...