“Outer Ear Wart ”
have a wart on my outer ear and its grown to be quite big over the four years it has been there. I have visited a plastic surgeon as well as a dermatologist but they tell me it would be hard to remove the wart without causing deformation or calloid growth there. Im still a 19 year old boy and lI'm worried about that. Is there another option for the wart to be removed without causing deformation in my ear?
Male | 19 years old
Complaint duration: 4 years
Medications: No medications
Conditions: No medical condition
3 Answers
I think the best thing to do with these cases is to see an ENT or a plastic surgeon who is extremely comfortable with total ear reconstruction as this may be part of the Reconstructive effort. This might give you the best possible result. Also, consider some of the more prominent institutions where the support system and variety of skill sets give you the best options.
Leland Webb
Leland Webb
I agree that it would be a challenge, with the risks of contour deformity or poor wound healing (keloids) that your other physicians mentioned, but it is not completely impossible to fix.
You need to prepared for the above risks, however. You also need to be prepared for a correction that might take multiple steps or phases (meaning more than one surgery).
Removing the entirety of the 'wart' may leave a wound bed that would require a skin graft that would need to be taken from elsewhere on your body. One idea is that a Mohs Dermatologist (specialist in skin cancer) removes your growth in a precise way that preserves as much 'good' tissue in the ear as possible, and a Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon fixes the defect or resulting wound that same day or within 1-2 days. This is a combination approach I do regularly with my Dermatology partners.
One thing I am curious to know is whether you or your family members have a history of poor scarring, such as hypertrophic or keloid scarring. Do you have traumatic or other scars elsewhere on your body that might suggest this? If so, then I agree more with your original consulting physicians that there would be a very high risk of keloid formation there. Ears are prone to keloids in those individuals susceptible to them, which could lead to a growth (keloid) that would simply replace the unsightly wart that you shared in the photographs.
Seek a Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon near you to have this discussion in person. If you can tolerate the risk of having an outcome that could be WORSE than what you have, with a decent probability of it being better, and a small chance that you could be completely "cured", then surgery may be a reasonable option for you. If you're hesitant at reading or hearing about all of these potential scenarios, then you may have to be brutally honest with yourself and learn to live with it.
I really wish you luck with your decision and in finding an appropriate Plastic Surgeon to take on your case, should this be what you want in the end!!
Nirav B. Patel, MD, JD, FACS, FCLM
Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon
Plastic, Reconstructive, Aesthetic, & Oculoplastic Surgery
Patel Plastic Surgery, LLC
11459 Johns Creek Parkway
Suite 240
Johns Creek, GA 30097
Office 470-395-6932
Fax 470-395-6951
https://www.drpatelplasticsurgery.com/
You need to prepared for the above risks, however. You also need to be prepared for a correction that might take multiple steps or phases (meaning more than one surgery).
Removing the entirety of the 'wart' may leave a wound bed that would require a skin graft that would need to be taken from elsewhere on your body. One idea is that a Mohs Dermatologist (specialist in skin cancer) removes your growth in a precise way that preserves as much 'good' tissue in the ear as possible, and a Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon fixes the defect or resulting wound that same day or within 1-2 days. This is a combination approach I do regularly with my Dermatology partners.
One thing I am curious to know is whether you or your family members have a history of poor scarring, such as hypertrophic or keloid scarring. Do you have traumatic or other scars elsewhere on your body that might suggest this? If so, then I agree more with your original consulting physicians that there would be a very high risk of keloid formation there. Ears are prone to keloids in those individuals susceptible to them, which could lead to a growth (keloid) that would simply replace the unsightly wart that you shared in the photographs.
Seek a Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon near you to have this discussion in person. If you can tolerate the risk of having an outcome that could be WORSE than what you have, with a decent probability of it being better, and a small chance that you could be completely "cured", then surgery may be a reasonable option for you. If you're hesitant at reading or hearing about all of these potential scenarios, then you may have to be brutally honest with yourself and learn to live with it.
I really wish you luck with your decision and in finding an appropriate Plastic Surgeon to take on your case, should this be what you want in the end!!
Nirav B. Patel, MD, JD, FACS, FCLM
Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon
Plastic, Reconstructive, Aesthetic, & Oculoplastic Surgery
Patel Plastic Surgery, LLC
11459 Johns Creek Parkway
Suite 240
Johns Creek, GA 30097
Office 470-395-6932
Fax 470-395-6951
https://www.drpatelplasticsurgery.com/
I am so sorry that you have a difficult problem here. Unfortunately, there are not perfect treatment without risk of deformity. Some treatment is better than no treatment. You have to be willing to take some risk in order to get treatment. I would try CO2 laser treatment first and hope that it would shrink and may be that's all you need. Surgery might be avoided. If not may be the scar or deformity would be small. The alternative of letting it get bigger surely would cause worse deformity.
Good luck !
Good luck !
