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Facial Plast Surg 2022; 38(03): 221-227
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1731070
Original Research

Outcome of Auricular Reconstruction with Porous Polyethylene Frameworks: Our 10 Years of Experience with 113 Children and Adults

Florian Schrötzlmair
1   Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, München, Germany
,
Katharina Götz
1   Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, München, Germany
,
Martin Patscheider
1   Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, München, Germany
,
John-Martin Hempel
1   Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, München, Germany
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Abstract

This study evaluates the surgical outcome and patient benefit after auricular reconstruction with porous polyethylene frameworks and temporoparietal fascia flaps in both children and adults. A total of 161 patients who had undergone auricular reconstruction between 2003 and 2014 by doctors in our department were asked to answer both a validated health-related quality-of-life questionnaire (Glasgow Benefit Inventory or Glasgow Children's Benefit Inventory) and a questionnaire reporting satisfaction, complaints, and complications with the reconstructed pinna. Furthermore, postoperative surgical complications were recorded. A total of 113 patients (89 individuals older than 14 and 24 children under the age of 14) returned the questionnaires. About 80% of the patients were satisfied with the results of their auricular reconstruction. The main complaints concerned scars and the shape. Patients' quality of life was correlated with their postoperative aesthetic satisfaction. Thus, framework extrusion was the principal factor affecting patients' satisfaction, whereas treatable postoperative complications did not interfere with the overall quality of life. Interestingly, children indicated greater benefit from auricular reconstruction than older patients. With regard to the patient's feeling of being physically healthy after auricular reconstruction, partial pinna reconstruction and reconstruction without simultaneous hearing restoration should be very carefully considered. Auricular reconstruction using a porous polyethylene framework significantly increases the patients' health-related quality of life and leads to significant patient satisfaction, especially in the case of younger patients.

Keywords

microtia - auricular reconstruction - polyethylene framework - quality of life


Publication History

Article published online:
18 June 2021

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