Eary

By the time you turn four your ears are almost fully grown.

That's what the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons reckons anyway. Ear surgery to set prominent ears back closer to the head or to reduce the size of large ears is usually performed on children between the ages of four and 14.

One site I found (here) said that this is partly because cartilage is more pliable at a young age, but the Society of Plastic Surgeons says it's because the earlier the surgery, the less teasing and ridicule the child will have to endure. They mention the pursuit of more natural-looking ears.

The whole concept of cosmetic surgery disturbs me. Maybe it seems an unsympathetic stance to take, but I tend to think that however your ears naturally occur constitutes "natural-looking." I realise that there are sometimes extreme cases and, particularly in instances where this causes medical issues, I do think there is a place for cosmetic surgery.

It just seems a little bit scary that if you think your child has overly large ears you can take them to a surgeon to have them pinned back. Some people are born with big ears and, even if they get teased about it at school, I think it's OK for them to have big ears.