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If you are reading these lines, either you have a child born with microtia, or you are an individual who was born with microtia. About 1 in 10,000 children are born with microtia. Since it is not a very common condition, there is a lack of information that applies not only to you, but even to doctors who are not particularly interested in this topic. We have aimed this website to guide you about what you will experience after a child with microtia is born and the examinations, tests and treatments that will be carried out for that child.
Contrary to popular belief, children are aware of differences in their own physique. Usually starting with the age of four, they notice their own differences and ask their parents, "Why is my ear like this?" This is a golden opportunity to talk to a child with microtia about their difference. The correct answers to their questions with a calm tone will allow the child to face and accept microtia, allowing the process leading up to ear construction to pass without negative effects on the childs self-esteem and psychological state.
Some parents prefer not to talk about their childs physical difference at all as they are concerned that the child will be hurt, but this is wrong because we often see problems with self-confidence in children whose parents have a tendency to hide their childs microtia from society and prefer not to talk about it with the child. The right thing is to start informing the child about the difference in their physical condition with appropriate sentences from the very first time they ask a question about this topic. When this is done correctly, children usually ask for ear reconstruction by themselves. If you have never talked to your child about microtia, and if your child is older than five, it is time to tell them some facts about it. In doing so, you can use the storytelling technique according to the childs age and temperament, rather than directly transferring the information in the book. For example, you can start explaining in the following way:
"Some children are born different from others, tall, short, blue-eyed, brown-eyed, blonde, brunette, and sometimes children are born with one or two smaller ears, just like you. You know what ? This difference makes you very special, because only 1 child out of 10,000 is like you. By the way, did you know that small ears can be enlarged? There is a very beautiful city called Bodrum, and there lives a nice doctor called Mehmet Mutaf. His job is to enlarge the ears of well-behaved children like you who were born with small ears. If you want your small ear to be the same as the other one, we can go to Bodrum after you turn six and ask for a large ear from that nice doctor. WHAT DO YOU SAY FOR THIS?
If the child tells you that he does not want this, do not insist on it in any way, because it can backfire. If you are patient, sooner or later the child will reopen this topic on his own. When that moment comes, respond to your child in a calm voice and as if it were something very natural. When you decide to visit us with your kid, during your trip to our clinic for the examination, tell them how beautiful their new ears will be, the activities you will do together after ear construction, how they can wear glasses and earrings, or briefly tell them what they like and what they want to do. To avoid trust issues between you and your child, please be careful to do the things you promised to do before the examination or ear reconstruction.
Sometimes when parents bring their 8-10-year-old children for examination, they come into my room leaving the child outside and say, "Sorry, professor, our child does not know that he has microtia yet, and on the way we told him that we are just going on a trip to Bodrum; if possible, could you take the child out after the examination and talk to us privately about the treatment?" Unfortunately, such a situation causes the child to lose a sense of trust in you as a parent, while the unpleasant feeling of involuntarily participating in a lie negatively affects me as the doctor and my team who will undertake his treatment. Most of all, it damages the trusting relationship that the child should have established with us from the very beginning. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of children who are brought to the examination in this way, or in other words (Im sorry to say this, but) "deceived", develop negative attitudes during the examination and express that they do not want to undergo surgery.
Therefore, what we are asking you is that children should face microtia before coming to the examination and develop an approach that will make them want to have the ear reconstruction themselves. Instead of saying that you will go on a trip to Bodrum, you should at least inform your children that they will meet with Dr. MEHMET MUTAF, who makes big ears for children born with small ears".BECAUSE MICROTIA IS A CONDITION THAT CAN BE TREATED, AND YOUR CHILD WILL LIVE A COMPLETELY NORMAL LIFE AFTER A SUCCESSFUL EAR RECONSTRUCTION.
As a doctor who has been dealing with microtia treatment for many years, I have seen hundreds of microtia patients of all ages and had self-confidence, happy and successful patients who were born with microtia and became doctors, teachers, engineers, artists, business persons, bureaucrats. That is why I can say with all my heart, “NO TEARS FOR SMALL EARS”. Because it is now possible to construct a new ear for your child with their own tissues that looks like their normal ear. THERE IS A CURE, and IT IS NOT FAR AWAY. For this, I am waiting you at our clinic, where we work exclusively on microtia treatment. No matter how old your child is, you can make an appointment and come at any time. You may not have informed the children before the age of four about the microtia because the child did not ask you a question, but if your child is older than four, I ask you to have a conversation with your child about her/his small ear before making an appointment for consultation.
