Five Weeks Post Microtia Repair

August 21, 2011.    Yes - that's his new ear!  It's been one month and three days since Ben's surgery.  Ben's ear is really coming around.  When Ben saw this picture of his ear (above), he insisted it was his old big ear.  There is still some raw-ness in the same spot and along where the sutures were along the rim of the ear, but the ear is looking less and less swollen.  For the past week and a half, since Dr. Lewin told us she was concerned about the healing in that one spot, we've been putting Bacitracin Zinc ointment on the raw spot, Clobetasol on the front surface of the ear and Neosporin gel on the part of the ear right at the entrance to the canal where there had been some cyst-like bumps.  The cysts at the front of the canal that I was worried about seemed to have resolved themselves and gone away.

I created my own way of wrapping his ear so that it's protected and is kept moist with the ointments, but he doesn't have to wear the cup.  So most of the time, Ben's ear is enjoying healing time under wraps.  He's not a big fan of wearing the cup, but he's fine wearing the bandage.

August 26, 2011.  It's been five weeks and four days, and Ben's ear has healed an incredible amount in a short period of time.  Here (to the left) is a photo from today after I cleaned his new ear.  As you can see, the swelling has decreased a lot.  It still has a ways to go.  The skin is still raw and a little pink.  Dr. Lewin says that it'll take a few more months for complete recovery.  Francesca said that it will get a bit more definition, which you can start to see already.  I'm also including (to the right) a photo of his "old ear" - his left side non-microtic ear so that you can see the comparison.

Here are also some pictures from the past few days.  When we went to visit Francesca on Wednesday, Francesca said that the cool thing is that while the ear first had only that one blood vessel providing the blood, by now vessels from other sides of the ear have grown into the membrane and so the ear is being provided with blood from all directions.  She said that the original vessel feeding the ear could be cut, and Ben's ear would be just fine.  Amazing!