Three Months Post Microtia Repair

Ben's ear had been healing really well and looked great.  With Dr. Lewin's blessing, he had resumed all of his regular activities such as swimming (and taking advantage of the Indian Summer) and AYSO soccer.  Around the time of his 6th birthday, we started to notice that the skin on his ear was looking like it was having a bumpy surface - almost like an allergic reaction.

And on the Monday morning after his birthday, I noticed blood coming out of his ear.  I quickly scheduled the next time I could see Dr. Lewin, and we met first thing on Wednesday, October 20 at Dr. Lewin's "other" office at the Cedar Sinai Medical Tower at 8631 W. 3rd Street.

Dr. Lewin was pretty distressed by how much the outer ear had changed in such a short period of time and said that keloids had developed and that keloids can develop on people as part of the healing process.  She said that the keloid appeared to be under the skin membrane and therefore might not respond to steroid injection treatment which may be tried to reduce the keloid.  She said that probably the treatment (if elected) would be surgical + a light radiation to the site so that a keloid would not re-develop.  I read a little bit about this on the Internet - there are some an interesting video by a Dr. Hill and then an article on the various types of treatments with none being entirely effective with no recurrence.  Obviously, we were more concerned about why the blood was in his ear, so she asked her colleague in this office, an ENT named Dr. Gene Liu, if he would take a look at Ben's ear.

Dr. Gene Liu is the same ENT that Devin (Ben's friend who we met through Dr. Lewin) now used - and it was nice to meet Dr. Liu.  He was very nice - especially for Ben, who hates having people touch his ear and his ear canal on his microtic side.  Dr. Liu ended up looking in his ear and saying it was just an outer ear infection (not something to be terribly worried about) but since our scheduled surgery was happening relatively soon, he prescribed antibiotics for Ben.  In addition, he sucked a lot of goop out of Ben's ear using a suction machine with a long metal "straw."  It was very loud due to the "slurping noises" but Ben was glad to have the "buggers" out of his ear.

Dr. Liu said to check back with him after a week or so to get sign off for the November 17 surgery.

Before leaving, Dr. Lewin showed me photos of the boy who she worked on who developed keloids after his microtia repair.  The keloids removed looked like little slivers of yellow fatty material.  Then, she re-sutered the spots and radiated them so that they would not re-keloid...Another boy, Miles - a patient of Dr. Reinisch, has a blog which includes a reference to his experience with having the keloids removed.  More to consider, but not now...

Three Months Post Microtia Repair

Ben was swimming a lot during the brief Indian Summer we had in early October, and around the week of his birthday in mid-October, we started to notice the outside of his ear looking a little strange, as if the skin was having an allergic reaction to something.  Then, on Monday morning (October 18) I noticed a ton of blood had clotted up in his ear.

I took him in to see Dr. Lewin for the first appointment on Wednesday morning, October 20.  On Wednesdays, Dr. Lewin works out of the Cedar Sinai Towers on 3rd Street with other ear doctors, including an ENT named Dr. Liu.

 Dr. Lewin was distressed about how the external ear skin looked - saying she had never seen an ear that started out so perfect for so long have keloids develop this late in the game.  But she said to focus on what was happening inside of his ear first, and she asked Dr. Liu if he could take a look at Ben's ear. 


Dr. Liu was great with Ben - who doesn't eactly like for strangers to touch his ear and particularly his ear canal.  Dr. Liu said there was a ton of goop in his ear and he stuck a long metal straw down Ben's ear and suctioned the goop out.  It made very loud slurping sounds, so Ben was a little squirmish and not particularly thrilled, but he liked the idea of having buggers removed from his ear.  He said that the problem was just an external ear problem (not middle or inner ear) and that just to be extra cautious, he was prescribing antibiotics and to see him in 10 days.

Before leaving, Dr. Lewin showed us what she did with another patient who developed keloids.  They surgically removed them and then radiated the spot so that keloids did not re-develop.  She said it worked well.  Of course, those are two things I want to not expose Ben to - so I'm not thinking about it for now.

Finally, Dr. Liu said that we'd probably be just fine to go ahead with the atresia repair revision on November 17 but to check back with him in 10 days.