One ear sticks out more: how symmetrical can surgery get?
Ears are never identical, not even before surgery. The realistic target is a difference no one notices at conversational distance, not a mirror image.
Nobody has two matching ears
Perfect symmetry does not exist, before or after surgery. Photograph any face and you will find differences in ear height, projection and rim shape between the two sides; they simply go unnoticed because the two ears are never seen together in sharp focus. We measure both ears at the consultation, helical rim to mastoid distance at three points, ear height and lobe position, and we show you the numbers, because a difference you can measure is often a difference nobody sees.
Why we usually operate on both ears
Correcting only the prominent ear rarely produces a balanced result. The two ears have different cartilage stiffness, different fold anatomy and different scar behaviour, so matching a new ear to an untouched one means chasing a target you cannot adjust. Operating on both lets us set them against each other in the same session, with you sitting up and a mirror in hand. The extra cost is small; the gain in symmetry is not.
What we can and cannot change
Projection and the antihelical fold respond well; ear size and vertical position largely do not. We can bring an ear closer to the head, create or deepen the fold that should curve along the upper ear, and reduce a deep conchal bowl. We cannot make one ear meaningfully shorter than it is, move it up the skull, or match a lobe that sits at a different level without adding a scar. If your asymmetry is mostly height rather than projection, otoplasty will disappoint you and we will say so.
The number we aim for
A residual difference of two to three millimetres between the two sides at the level of the upper ear is a good outcome, and it is invisible in normal life. Judge the result at three months, not at three weeks: swelling is asymmetric during healing and one ear routinely settles faster than the other. Otoplasty from €1,600 covers both ears, the surgeon, the theatre and the follow-up. A revision, if it is genuinely needed, is planned no earlier than six months.
The Ones People Actually Ask.
Should I have surgery on only one ear if only one sticks out?
Occasionally, when the difference is small and the normal ear already has an ideal shape. More often we operate on both, because matching a reshaped ear to an untouched one is harder than setting two ears together.
How long before the ears look even after otoplasty?
Swelling makes them look uneven for the first few weeks. The shape is broadly settled at three months and final at six, which is when we assess symmetry properly.
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What Stands Behind The Plan.
