Plastic surgeon Dr. Roberto L. Flores was able to recreate a young woman's ear using cartilage and three-dimensional–printing technology.
Photo: NYU Langone Staff
Roberto L. Flores, MD, the Joseph McCarthy Associate Professor of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery in the Hansjörg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery at NYU Langone, tells the New York Post how he reconstructed a young woman’s missing ear, after she lost it to a dog bite several years prior.
Using cartilage from Pamela’s ribs, Dr. Flores referenced a three-dimensional (3D)–printed model of her good ear to whittle and form a new structure, which was covered in her own skin, and ultimately restored her missing ear.
Before using the innovative 3D-printed model, “the doctor draws it by hand on a flat piece of plastic and essentially has a stencil. It’s pretty rudimentary,” says Dr. Flores.
After nearly a dozen procedures, Dr. Flores’s final task was to pierce Pamela’s new earlobe—her ultimate request. Now, Pamela plans to celebrate her incredible journey by wearing her favorite earrings on her next birthday.
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