Otoplasty for Children

Before choosing a surgeon for your child's ear pinning, ask yourself these three key questions: 1) Technique, 2) Experience, 3) Leadership in the field.

1. Technique: Will the ears look natural from every angle?

Most otoplasty today builds on safe, time-tested techniques. Dr. Mobley was honored to be chosen to write the otoplasty chapter in Bailey's Head & Neck Surgery–Otolaryngology, one of the main teaching textbooks surgeons learn from, covering the anatomy, development and surgical technique of otoplasty. He has also developed his own helical root fixation technique, which he presented to fellow surgeons at the Global Aesthetics Conference in Miami and which helps even the most prominent ears rest much closer to the head. A well-hidden incision on the back of the ear keeps the results natural from every angle.

2. Experience: How many otoplasties does your surgeon perform?

Steven Mobley, MD, has performed otoplasty for over 24 years and performs 20–30 or more otoplasties each year, compared with about 5–6 per year for the average U.S. surgeon in past AAFPRS survey data. His career achievements place him in the top 1% of otoplasty surgeons. Dr. Mobley recommends a safe general anesthesia for children and most teens, given at Millcreek Surgical Suite in Salt Lake City, an AAAASF-accredited surgical suite where every member of the surgical team holds advanced pediatric safety certification. Dr. Mobley is also a member of the Intermountain Health system, which includes Primary Children's Hospital.

What is the best age for a child's ear pinning? Dr. Mobley prefers to perform otoplasty at about age 6. By then the ears are nearly full grown, and that extra year of maturity helps children feel calm and ready on the day of surgery. Dr. Mobley will also offer ear pinning to some 5-year-olds, generally those who seem mature and self-motivated to have the surgery. Recovery is easier than most families expect: a soft, full-head "mummy wrap" for the first 2–3 days, then a headband worn full time through the first week and at night for about 6–8 weeks. Most children are back in school after about 1 week.

Few surgeons bring experience from both sides of the operating table. Dr. Mobley had otoplasty himself at 19, which is why he tells families, "I've been exactly where your child is." Readers of The Park Record voted him Park City's Best for 10 years, he has been recognized as a Castle Connolly Top Doctor, and his work in otoplasty has been featured on Inside Edition and Good Morning America.

3. Leadership in the field: Has your surgeon actually written the textbook chapter on otoplasty?

Beyond his Bailey's textbook chapter, Steven Mobley, MD, was guest editor of an entire issue of Facial Plastic Surgery Clinics of North America devoted to ear surgery, co-authored a review of 20 years of otoplasty techniques, and co-authored an instructional article on correcting prominent ears with Dr. Dean Toriumi.

Dr. Mobley has taught otoplasty to fellow surgeons at national meetings, including a talk at the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery annual meeting on improving outcomes and reducing bullying, and a 2013 expert panel on ear surgery with nationally known otoplasty experts Drs. Edward Farrior, Peter Adamson and Peter Hilger. He is a former tenured Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Utah School of Medicine and has been invited to lecture at seven academic medical centers in the United States and Germany, including Northwestern University and the University of Regensburg.

Dr. Mobley and the Mobley MD practice have a long history of giving back, and they keep most of that giving local. Together they have given more than $100,000 in charitable surgery and donations, including free ear pinning surgery for bullied children whose families could not otherwise afford it, more than a decade of support for Utah foster youth through Raise the Future, and police and veterans charities such as Folds of Honor and Tunnel to Towers. Dr. Mobley also volunteers through the FACE TO FACE program, providing reconstructive surgery for survivors of domestic violence, and received the American Red Cross Hero Award for his charitable ear surgery work.

Technique, experience, and leadership in the field. When you choose Steven Mobley, MD, for your child's otoplasty in Salt Lake City, you choose the surgeon who wrote the textbook chapter on otoplasty, performs more cosmetic ear surgeries than almost any other surgeon in the United States, and knows exactly how your child feels.