Your ears might be sore and bruised for a few days, and you’ll need to wear a compression band.

You won’t be able to wash your hair or shower for 48 hours.

You won’t be able to go swimming or take part in any contact sports until six weeks post op.

You may want to sleep upright to keep any weight off the ear and wear your headband to protect your ears even at night.

As the stitches heal, you may experience some pain, numbness or tingling in the ears. You can relieve this with over-the-counter medication.

After 10 days or so, your stitches will be removed (unless dissolving stitches have been used).

Your surgery will be carried out under a local or general anaesthetic and will take between one and two hours.

Your Consultant will make a cut on the back of your ear and remove some skin from the cartilage.

They may remove small pieces of cartilage to change the position of the ear, so it’s closer to your head. They can also correct any asymmetry at the same time.

Once over, they’ll close the wound with stitches. You’ll be left with a small scar behind each ear, which will fade with time.

Once the ears are fully grown you can have ear pinning surgery.

However, the treatments and services at Benenden Hospital are only available to patients over 18 years of age.

Ear pinning surgery is also known as otoplasty or pinnaplasty.

As with all types of surgery, pinnaplasty has risks associated with the procedure including scarring, changes in skin sensation, problems with stitches and overcorrection of the pinning.

Your Consultant will talk you through these and any risks associated with anaesthesia.