title: Piercing the upper ear: a simple infection, a difficult reconstruction.
abstract: Piercing the upper ear to retain jewellery is now commonplace. When infection ensues, devastating chondritis leads to collapse of the ear. To our knowledge, the surgical reconstruction of post-piercing deformities has not been documented in the literature. We present five such cases referred for autogenous-tissue ear reconstruction. In four of these, the destroyed segments of ear cartilage were replaced with a carved costal-cartilage framework. One patient declined surgery. The importance of preventing infection is stressed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Mount Vernon Hospital, Northwood, UK.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cicchetti
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Skillman
authors.forename: D T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Gault
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004425:Ear Cartilage / Q000601:surgery; D004426:Ear Deformities, Acquired / Q000601:surgery*; D004431:Ear, External / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011677:Punctures / Q000009:adverse effects