In the past, when you have improperly shaped ear, you need to live with it. With the vast improvement in medical treatments and surgeries, they can correct your ears the way you want it to look like. However, a couple has proven that going back to the basics may actually be effective at present.
Soon after giving birth to a baby girl, Jennifer McMullen noticed that one of her daughter's ears looked different, oddly different at that. "She had a condition called lidding, where the top part of the cartilage in the ear is basically folded over so the top ridge is kind of rounded over," explained Mrs. McMullen.
As a mother, she wanted the best for her daughter especially that she doesn't want her daughter to feel ugly. "She's a beautiful baby girl. If she plays sports, I don't want her to be self-conscious pulling her hair back or anything like that," she added.
The doctors gave the couple three options to improve their daughter's ear. One option is to live with it and accept that their daughter has a unique ear. Second, they can reshape the ear through surgery. However, they need to wait until she is five years old to perform the reconstructive surgery. The last and traditional way of correcting it is through a plastic mold to reshape the ear.
She asked around on what to do and some of her friends recommended using an ear mold called 'EarWell', an ear correction system, that has gained popularity in the plastic surgery world. It was manufactured by Becon Medical and works by molding the ears of the baby to achieve desired shape. It can be used as early as five to seven days after birth, according to the Pediatric Plastic Surgery Institute.
Mrs. McMullen started to use the ear mold when she was just 6 weeks old and after another six weeks, her ears looked normal just like any other kid. The mold adheres to the skin behind the ear and guides the ear close to the head.
"It rounded out her ear and cartilage completely. And she never seemed to be uncomfortable or in pain," said McMullen who credited her insurance company for covering majority of the cost. Her baby is now eight months old and she is happy that her daughter's ear is normal now, as reported by NPR News.
