33 Days in Review...in Pictures!

I guess this is fitting as it's New Year's Eve today...Here's some photos.  I'm starting with the simplest ones first, going to the larger comparisons.  The last one is the back of the ear with the skin graft revision so I will let you click "read more" if you want to see it.  Enjoy!

Here I am about to go to a wedding 31 days post-op.  Dr. Griffiths saved the part of my earlobe that had my earring hole in it, and I was able to put in earrings that hung the same height and direction for the first time in my life!  They're not quite level in the picture because my head is a bit tilted and the camera direction is a bit crooked.  However, you can see that my smile pulls back farther on my right side.  That is because I have slight Hemifacial Microsomia.  Which roughly just means that the right side of my jaw is also underdeveloped just like my ear on that side.  It's fairly common to have both.  As I get older, however, it's starting to cause some dental issues that may need to be addressed in the future.  It also means I have always had TMJ.

Backside of my left ear 33 days after surgery.  The color is slowly starting to look less nasty.

This is the incision Dr. Griffiths made to remove enough of my TP fascia flap to cover the ear.  He does not shave any hair when he does this.  In fact, he doesn't shave any hair off of the head at all when doing ear reconstructions, which is very rare.  Most other doctors do some shaving.

These four photos are to show you how the incisions on the front of the ear are healing.  Note color, swelling where it attaches to my existing earlobe, size of canal area, etc.

I explained in the collage, but basically this is a follow up to the post where I mentioned the big white lump of skin on the front area by the top rim.  It's finally starting to diminish instead of stick out farther!

Front-on comparison of the ear from the time the mold fell off.  Note that the skin graft revision surgery happened on day 21.  It's interesting that even on day 20 that area looks like there has been an increase in swelling.

Here is how the back of the ear has progressed.  You can start to see in the last 3 pictures as the scab came off why I was concerned.  I made this collage last night, so I didn't have a picture from today.  When I photographed it to send off to Dr. Griffiths, however, I was happy to see that it is looking MUCH better today, and that where the stitches were stretched, tugged by the skin separating, is now starting to go back down to normal.  It's also nice to see less "guts" and more healed skin!  If you can zoom in on this collage, day 29 has the most tug and the most "guts".  Today's photo made me a very happy camper! There is hope that there won't be a huge bulge behind the ear after all!