subject: What Is Microtia [print this page] Microtia is something a child is born with that requires ear reshaping. Usually a children born with microtia have a very small ear or no ear at all. Microtia is considered a birth defect. Children with the microtia birth defect may also suffer from hearing loss because their ear canal is closed off or because they simply don't have an ear canal. Children born with microtia are more commonly male than female although, female children can also be born with microtia as a birth defect, but the percentage of microtia born children is much higher for boys that girls.
The very basic thing about microtia is that there is no external ear or very little external ear. Without the external ear, there is some hearing loss, but most of the hearing loss cases with children with microtia have more problems with their ear canal as well as a missing external ear. However, there are several children with microtia who have perfectly good hearing and for the reasons of microtia just don't have an external ear. The only problem that these children may have with no hearing loss may be facing teasing and stigma of not having an external ear.
With today's technology, microtia can be fixed with surgery. A doctor can form an external ear out of other tissues in the child's body or a doctor can make an external ear out of another material that looks like a real ear. Having surgery to make an external ear out of a child's cartilage from other areas of the child's body would be the best option for a more natural looking external ear. The reason is that the external ear, since it is made up of the natural tissues of the child's body, the external ear will grow with the child whereas the types of plastic used to form an external ear will only stay the same size as the child grows.
Some problems with the ear canal that microtia causes can also be improved or repaired by surgery. If there only needs to be an opening to the ear canal, this surgery will be more simple than if an ear canal needs to be repaired.
Microtia is not a very common birth defect, however, it is one birth defect that seems to be a lot easier to fix than another more serious birth defect. Some cases of microtia only include an ear deformity. Other cases of microtia may include hearing loss or no existing ear canal and ear parts at all which would result in complete hearing loss. Most cases of microtia are the less serious cases where there is an ear deformity or a missing external ear or just a very small external ear or a closed off ear canal. It may be that doctors can detect microtia within the womb during an ultra-sound when there is no external ear. However, microtia is not a common birth defect and most ultra-sounds would pick up on a missing body part caused by microtia, but the missing ear canal may not be discovered until after the child is born.
If you want to know more about microtia here are some key words you can search for to find more information about the birth defect microtia: birth defect, congenital ear deformity, children born with microtia, microtia surgery, ear deformity from birth defect, external ear missing, children with microtia, ear surgery, microtia hearing loss.
