Quick Facts
Topic Resources
The outer ear includes your ear lobe and your ear canal. The ear canal is the tube that connects the outside of your ear to your eardrum.
What are birth defects of the ear?
How do doctors treat birth defects of the ear?
Treatment depends on what part of the ear is affected.
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If the ear is too small or not shaped right, doctors will do surgery to rebuild the ear—they may use an artificial ear (prosthesis), tissue from the ribs, or an implant
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If the ear canal is missing or not fully open, doctors do surgery to make a better opening
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If the eardrum is missing or deformed, doctors can sometimes do surgery to rebuild it, but often children will need a special implanted hearing aid
