Otoplasty for Adults

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

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

Ear pinning is one of the most time-tested operations in Facial Plastic Surgery, and the details make the difference. 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. He 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, even with short hair or hair pulled back.

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. Adults can choose general anesthesia (fully asleep) or a gentle IV sedation at Millcreek Surgical Suite in Salt Lake City, an AAAASF-accredited surgical suite, or local anesthesia with oral sedation right in the office. Dr. Mobley will walk you through these options at your consultation.

Is it too late to have ear pinning as an adult? Not at all. Dr. Mobley sees many adults in their early-to-mid 20s, after they finish school, who have wanted ear pinning for a decade or more and are finally ready to do it for themselves. And it's truly never too late: over his career, Dr. Mobley has had the distinct honor of performing otoplasty for a handful of patients in their 70s and even 80s. Recovery is quick: 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 weeks. Most adults are back at work 2–7 days after surgery, depending on the job.

Few surgeons bring experience from both sides of the operating table. Dr. Mobley had otoplasty himself at 19, which is why he tells patients, "I've been exactly where you are." 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 devoted 11 years to the University of Utah School of Medicine as a full-time faculty member, earning tenure as Associate Professor of Surgery, and has been invited to lecture at seven academic medical centers in the United States and Germany, including the University of Miami and Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center.

Dr. Mobley and the Mobley MD practice have a long history of giving back, most of it close to home. 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. It is heartwarming for many adult patients to learn that a portion of every cosmetic otoplasty Dr. Mobley performs goes to a special fund at the Mobley Foundation for Charitable Surgery, which provides ear pinning surgery to school-age children (K–12) who are bullied and teased about their ears and whose families could not otherwise afford the operation.

Technique, experience, and leadership in the field. When you choose Steven Mobley, MD, for your 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 has been exactly where you are.