Otoplasty in Dubai — ear correction surgery

There is no single otoplasty operation. There is a set of techniques, and the right one depends on which part of the ear is causing the prominence. Most cases use a combination.

Suture techniques — Mustardé

Permanent horizontal mattress sutures are placed across the cartilage to create or deepen the antihelical fold. The cartilage is bent rather than cut, so the edge of the ear keeps its natural soft contour. This is the standard answer when the problem is an underdeveloped fold.

Conchal setback — Furnas

When the concha is the cause, sutures are placed between the conchal cartilage and the mastoid bone behind the ear to rotate the whole ear inward. This is often combined with the technique above, because the two problems commonly coexist.

Cartilage-scoring techniques

The front surface of the cartilage is scored so that it curls away from the scored side and forms a fold. Scoring gives a smoother, more definite fold in stiff cartilage, but it is less forgiving than sutures — the change is permanent from the moment it is made.

Conchal reduction

Where the conchal bowl is genuinely oversized, a strip of cartilage is removed rather than repositioned. This is used sparingly and only when setback alone would leave the ear still standing out.

Incisionless and thread techniques — an honest note

Techniques that place sutures through small punctures without an open incision are offered in Dubai and marketed as a quick alternative. They can work in a narrow group of patients: soft, thin cartilage, a mild deformity, and prominence caused only by the missing fold. They do not address a large concha, and published follow-up reports higher rates of the ears drifting back than open techniques. We will tell you plainly at consultation whether your ears fall into that narrow group. In most adults they do not.

How the method is chosen

The surgeon examines the ear with a hand behind it, folding it back to see which manoeuvre corrects the shape and how much resistance the cartilage gives. Soft cartilage responds to sutures. Stiff cartilage, common in adults over forty, often needs scoring. A deep bowl needs setback or reduction. The plan is agreed with you before the day of surgery, not decided in theatre.

Who otoplasty suits

• Adults and children whose ears stand away from the head, on one or both sides.
• Ears that are in proportion but sit too far forward, and ears that are disproportionately large.
• Asymmetry — one ear more prominent than the other. Correcting a single ear is a normal operation, not a compromise.
• Ears that have relapsed after a previous otoplasty, or that were injured.
• People who understand what the operation can and cannot change, and who want it for themselves.

Who it is not suitable for

This list matters as much as the one above, and it is the part most websites leave out.

• Active infection or inflamed skin in or around the ear — the operation is postponed, not cancelled.
• A history of keloid scarring. The incision sits behind the ear, but keloid-prone skin needs a frank conversation and sometimes a different plan.
• Children whose ears have not finished growing.
• Uncontrolled diabetes, bleeding disorders, or medication that cannot safely be paused.
• Current smoking. Nicotine narrows the small vessels that supply the skin behind the ear, which is exactly the tissue that has to heal.
• Expecting the operation to fix something it does not touch — how other people behave, or a self-image concern that is not really about the ears. A surgeon who agrees to operate in that situation is not doing you a favour.

Age — children and adults

The ear reaches close to its adult size by about five to six years old. That is why otoplasty is usually considered from around age five or six and not earlier: operating on an ear that is still growing risks the correction changing shape as the child grows. From that age there is no upper limit. Adults are operated on routinely, and stiffer adult cartilage simply changes which technique is used.

For a child, the assessment includes whether the child themselves wants it. A child who is untroubled by their ears is not a candidate because a parent is troubled.

Anaesthesia and how long it takes

In adults, otoplasty is usually performed under local anaesthesia with the ear numbed and the patient awake, or under general anaesthesia if preferred. In children, general anaesthesia is standard. ELEMENTAL is a DHA-licensed day surgical centre with its own operating theatres, its own salaried anaesthesia team on site, and its own monitored recovery unit, so both options are available in the same building.

The operation itself takes roughly one to two hours for both ears, depending on which techniques are needed. You go home the same day.

At ELEMENTAL, otoplasty is performed by Dr. Tarek Rashed, Specialist Plastic Surgeon (DHA licence 75760605-010). He trained in plastic and reconstructive surgery in Italy and the Czech Republic, holds a consultant post at University Hospital Kralovske Vinohrady in Prague, and has practised in the United Arab Emirates since 2019.

The operation, step by step

1. The plan agreed at consultation is marked on the ear.
2. Anaesthesia is given — local infiltration, or general anaesthesia managed by the anaesthesiologist.
3. An incision is made in the crease behind the ear, where it is hidden by the ear itself.
4. The cartilage is exposed. Depending on the plan, the fold is created with sutures, the cartilage front is scored, the concha is set back to the mastoid, or a strip of conchal cartilage is removed.
5. Both ears are compared repeatedly during surgery, from the front and from above, not only from the side.
6. The skin is closed and a supportive dressing is applied.

Recovery from otoplasty is short compared with most facial surgery, but the ears are unprotected and easily knocked, so the restrictions matter more than the pain does.

First 48 hours

A bulky head dressing stays on. Expect a tight, throbbing feeling rather than sharp pain; it is controlled with simple painkillers prescribed on discharge. Sleep on your back with the head raised. The dressing is not removed at home.

First two weeks

The dressing is changed at the clinic, usually after one to two days, and replaced with a soft elastic headband. The headband is worn day and night for about two weeks. Swelling and bruising settle over this period. Sutures behind the ear are removed or dissolve at around one to two weeks, depending on the material used.

Sleeping on your side is what most people find hardest. Pressure on a healing ear in the first weeks is the main cause of a fold pulling loose.

Weeks two to six

The headband moves to night-time only, typically for a further four weeks. The ears will still feel numb or oddly sensitive in patches; that settles over weeks to months. The shape at six weeks is close to the final shape, but small changes continue for several months as swelling resolves fully.

Work, school, sport and swimming

• Desk work — usually about five to seven days, once the bulky dressing is off.
• School — about one week, with a note asking that the child is kept out of physical play.
• Light exercise — around two weeks, avoiding anything that pulls clothing over the head.
• Contact sport, martial arts, wrestling — not before six weeks, and headgear afterwards for the first season.
• Swimming — pools not before four weeks and only once the surgeon confirms the wounds are fully closed; sea and untreated water later still. This is the question people ask most in Dubai and the one most clinics do not answer. Chlorinated and sea water reaching an incision that has not fully sealed is a genuine infection risk in a cartilage operation.
• Hair salon, headphones, glasses arms, face masks — anything that hooks over or presses on the ear waits until your surgeon says so, usually two to three weeks.

Follow-up

Dressing change at one to two days, review at one to two weeks for sutures, then at six weeks and again at three to six months. Follow-up is part of the operation, not an extra.

Scars

The incision is placed in the crease behind the ear. Once healed it sits in a natural fold and is not visible from the front, from the side, or in most photographs. It is a real scar, not an invisible one: it fades from pink to pale over six to twelve months, and in a minority of people it stays thickened. If your skin scars badly elsewhere, say so before surgery.

How long the results last, and what happens if the ears relapse

Otoplasty is intended to be permanent, and in most people it is. It is honest to say that some ears drift partly back toward their original position, usually within the first year, because the correction is held by sutures against cartilage that has memory. Published recurrence rates vary by technique; suture-only and incisionless methods relapse more often than techniques that also reshape the cartilage.

If a fold loosens, a revision is a smaller operation than the first one and is usually done under local anaesthesia. Our position is stated in writing before surgery: what would count as a revision, what it would involve, and what it would cost. Ask any surgeon for the same in writing — a clinic that will not put its revision terms on paper is telling you something.

Risks

Otoplasty is a low-risk operation, but it is an operation. The recognised risks are:

• bleeding or a haematoma under the skin, which needs to be released promptly;
• infection, which in cartilage surgery is treated urgently;
• residual asymmetry between the two ears;
• over-correction, where the ear is set too close to the head;
• a suture becoming palpable, exposed, or needing removal;
• numbness or altered sensation in the ear, usually temporary;
• thickened or keloid scarring behind the ear;
• partial loss of correction, as described above;
• the risks of anaesthesia, which the anaesthesiologist reviews with you before the day.

Every one of these is discussed at consultation and listed in the consent form. There is no guarantee of a specific result; outcomes vary from one person to another.

What determines the cost

Otoplasty is priced per case, and the figure depends on: one ear or both; which techniques are needed; whether it is performed under local or general anaesthesia; theatre and recovery time; and whether it is a first operation or a revision of surgery done elsewhere.

Ear correction performed for appearance is a cosmetic procedure and is not covered by health insurance in the UAE. Reconstruction after trauma or for a congenital ear deformity may be assessed differently — we will tell you which category your case falls into rather than leaving you to find out later.

You receive a written quotation after the consultation and examination, before anything is booked. Prices quoted verbally or by message are indicative only; the written quotation is the one that stands.

Consultation

A consultation and examination are required before any otoplasty is planned. At ELEMENTAL, Jumeirah 1, the assessment is done by Dr. Tarek Rashed, Specialist Plastic Surgeon, in the same building where the operation and the recovery take place.