Tape attachment therapy for correction of congenital malformations of the auricle: Clinical and experimental studies†

After the auricular cartilage of 5-week-old rabbits was bent and fixed by suture, the cartilage increased in thickness in a short period of time. The thickness was maximal 6 weeks later and slightly greater than that of the control cartilage 12 weeks later. At this stage, the auricle was fixed in curved form. There was no difference in the morphology of cartilage cells between the bent group and the control. Tape attachment therapy is very simple. We propose that surgical treatment should be designed after a few months of tape attachment therapy. In the present work, the effect of taping was graded good in 4 cases of Stahl ear, 1 case of atypical cryptotia, and 2 other cases. In 2 cases of cup ear the result was fair, but this deformity with marked auricular aplasia was not curable by this conservative treatment.