Double Ear Closure — Conch and Lobe

My old friend Quentin at Kalima (kalima.co.uk) is one of those body modification masters that’s been at it since caveman days, but doesn’t seek out media attention so he flies under most people’s radar. Anyway, he posted this beautifully done ear reconstruction that included the reversal of a large inner conch hole, and the first comment practically had me on the floor laughing — “Was tissue removed from the lobe to repair the conch?”

The picture is misleading because Quentin did the lobe closure and the conch closure at the same time, so both are stitched up. I suppose it’s not a terribly unreasonable assumption if you’re a layperson that doesn’t have much experience with these procedures, but after laughing a bit, I was a little terrified that someone might see this and actually try and do a lobe reversal that way — which would almost certainly result in necrosis (you might as well stick in a piece of hamburger beef for all the good it’ll do). In any case, it’s not a big deal to remove cartilage from the inner conch and then close the skin over the void — in fact, this is quite commonly done by cosmetic surgeons, who often choose the inner conch to harvest cartilage for transplant in rhinoplasty (ie. nose job) procedures!

Click to zoom in and take a close look at how perfectly this turned out.

6 thoughts on “Double Ear Closure — Conch and Lobe

  1. Oh and I just want to be clear that I’m not in any way laughing at the person who asked the question — I’m laughing at the idea of cutting off a lobe and sticking it in a conch hole. There’s nothing wrong with asking questions that later turn out to be silly. Better to ask a silly question than to stay in the dark!!!

  2. Oh and I just want to be clear that I’m not in any way laughing at the person who asked the question — I’m laughing at the idea of cutting off a lobe and sticking it in a conch hole. There’s nothing wrong with asking questions that later turn out to be silly. Better to ask a silly question than to stay in the dark!!!

  3. Quentin is fantastic. I remember when he scalpelled my ear – yeah, it hurt like a bitch but how did it turn out? Excellent. I’ve only seen great things come out of his studio – never merely ‘good’!

    Although there was this one mod that he did on some guy called Gandy, that was kind of balls.

  4. Quentin is fantastic. I remember when he scalpelled my ear – yeah, it hurt like a bitch but how did it turn out? Excellent. I’ve only seen great things come out of his studio – never merely ‘good’!

    Although there was this one mod that he did on some guy called Gandy, that was kind of balls.

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