• Minyan Zhang, Xiaochen Tian, Jun Shi, Huxian Liu, Ning Liu, and Zhengjun Cui.
• From the *Department of Burn and Repair Reconstruction Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China; †Department of Plastic and Reconstruction Surgery, the General Hospital of the Second Artillery, Beijing, China; and ‡Department of Plastic and Reconstruction Surgery, the General Hospital of PLA, Beijing, China.
• Ann Plast Surg. 2017 Jun 1; 78 (6): 680-683.

ObjectiveThis study aims to observe the efficacies of microsurgical technique combined with the Zhuang's skin soft tissue expander in treating Hunter type III congenital microtia.MethodsFifty-eight patients (61 ears) were enrolled from 2003 to 2012; the skin tissue expander was embedded subepidermally in the first stage via the intrahairline longitudinal incision in the postauricular mastoid area, the diseased-side rib cartilage was then taken for preparing the ear bracket in the second stage, and the tragus was surgically reconstructed in the third stage.ResultsThe mean follow-up lasted 6 months to 10 years, the results were satisfactory for 54 ears and acceptable for 5 ears, and 2 ears (in two patients) appeared with complications, including 1 case of ear flap expansion rupture and 1 case of postoperative lateral helix flap necrosis.ConclusionsThe combination of microsurgical technique, Zhuang's skin soft tissue expander, and autogenous rib cartilage graft could achieve satisfactory results in treating Hunter type III congenital microtia, and the complications were less, so it was worthy of clinical applications.

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