Remnant Ear Lobe

The earlobe is the soft tissue portion of the lower ear where earrings are typically placed.  Often, the ear lobe is not malformed and only needs to be rotated away from the ear canal site and into a more anatomically correct position with reconstruction of the outer ear.  Grading the size of the earlobe is helpful in the surgical planning process.

As in normal ears, the size of the earlobe varies widely.  In rare cases, no earlobe is present and surgical construction of an earlobe is needed.  Grading and examples are as follows: