Now, to business. The Earwell. I came across a plastic surgeons blog when I was looking for treatment options when Aramis was just 3 weeks old. I called a plastic surgeon up in Salt Lake the very next day and was told, sorry, his next available wasn't for 3 weeks. Concerned, I explained that the treatment had to be started within the first month of life. "Are you breastfeeding?" the receptionist asked me. "Yes." "Then you'll be ok, you have a bigger window if you breastfeed." Famous last words. Probably should have made sure with the doc before telling me that bozo.
Aramis was 6 1/2 weeks old when we finally consulted with the plastic surgeon, who told us we were at the end of the window he would say yes in. He said he was upset with his receptionist, and maybe that's part of the reason he agreed to do it for a much lesser cost. However, he still left the choice up to us, making sure we understood there were no guarantees, especially this late. Earwell seemed better than surgery, so we decided to go ahead and give it a try.
Another thing not in our favor? We were moving. We only had three weeks left in Utah, which mean, I would be finishing the therapy myself, with non one's help. Yes, I would be able to talk to the doc over the phone, but without him there to see what I was talking about, it was very difficult.
After a week in Iowa, I realized the treatment wasn't working anymore. It was applying too much pressure to Aramis' ear, causing it to harden and turn red. I called the doc about it, but he said not to worry. I modified the device to allow for some release of pressure, but so that the hook stayed in place. Eventually, the hook just wouldn't stay, Aramis's ear had become too hard and resistant. So we tried the silver sauter rod, his ear pushed that out of place as well.
Finally, we decided to stop torturing our baby, and after 7 weeks of therapy, we were done.
Now, I still recommend the Earwell for patients who get to their Plastic Surgeons (NOT ENTs!!!!) in time. Meaning, before the baby is 4 weeks old. But after working with the device personally, I can see what my plastic surgeon meant when he said that it had problems and he always had to modify it.
One: It does begin to apply too much pressure on the ear towards the end of treatment. Especially if your kid's ears stick out like mine.
Two: It doesn't apply enough pressure in the appropriate place. The first insert to the device we used was not a hook, it was like a rod that shaped the ear and applied pressure on the bent part of the cartilage. Had we used that piece instead of the hook for the remainder of the therapy, I am confident it would have worked to our satisfaction.
Three: Make sure you can actually go to your plastic surgeon. The pictures I sent mine, well, he said everything looked great, when I could tell for myself that they did not look great. You'll see what I mean in the pictures. The last picture I sent, the plastic surgeon said he was pleased with the results. I wonder if that was just to make me feel like it wasn't a waste.
Aramis had a few things working against him. He had very sticky outty ears. His cartilage was bent down too far for just a hook. We started therapy too late. The fact that there was so much humidity that he kept sweating the outer part of the device off probably didn't help either. I had to reapply it at least once a week.
Now, before everyone feels badly for him, the therapy worked partially, of course, not as much as we would have liked, and he may still need surgery in the future, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Here are some pictures for you to see. I think it's pretty obvious when we started using the hook instead of the rod, you can see an immediate difference in the shape of the ear.
Right ear,
Kind of what we were hoping for
Left ear Before treatment
The plastic rod piece,
probably should have used
it the whole time
After week 1
After week 3,
darnit, I would have even settled for this!
You can see the one hook piece,
and this is how I modified the device
to allow for his ear to have enough room.
The older the baby, the less room
the device allows for
After week 5
End result
slight change.
I remember being so excited when we pulled the top of the device off after one week of treatment, and I said, wow look at the change already! The plastic surgeon said, don't be fooled, it can always go back……..well, now I know. Am I sorry we did it? Yeah, a little, part of me feels it was a waste. But, on the other hand, I learned a lot, we at least tried, no one can fault us for that. And it did help a little, I was just hoping for something more. Has it worked on kids who started therapy at 6 weeks? Yes, it has. Has it not worked on kids who started therapy at 2 weeks. Just the same. You never know if it is going to work or not, and sometimes, there's just not enough estrogen in the baby's system to keep their cartilage soft enough. Maybe that was the case here, and maybe it also was because we didn't use the plastic rod long enough to start. Whatever the case, it was a learning process for us all. When you look at him straight on though, it's not as bad as it was before. You can't really tell unless you pay close attention. Hopefully his hair grows back soon to help out :s And I will say this, it was much better than being in the top 5 % worst cases of torticollis, 18 months of physical therapy and two rounds of botox. Count your blessings baby boy!
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