The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Cosmetic ear surgery silences ridicule of peers
Girl’s condition made ears grow disproportionally to other features
For 8-year-old Tatum Gordon, her ears posed an emotionally painful condition.
The Mentor resident was born with ears which grew disproportionately to her other facial features, making them perpendicular to her head. The very prominent ears greatly reduced her self-confidence and often drew negative attention from other children, causing her to be bullied and ridiculed.
She said that taunting calls of “monkey ears” and being told that she was too weird to play with made her feel disabled.
Tatum’s mother Theresa Gordon said that her daughter would cry and scream on mornings when she knew she had to go to school and that her self-esteem was so low that her academic performance declined.
She noted that school officials addressed the problem which eventually led to the lessening of the issue. However, the concerned mother also knew that Tatum’s pronounced ears would be a difficulty her daughter would be faced with later on.
Theresa had also suffered ridicule while growing up but struggled with the idea of surgery to alleviate Tatum’s circumstances.
“You don’t want to correct your child’s appearance because of being vain, but you want to change her future through self-confidence.” — Tatum Gordon’s mother Theresa Gordon
“You don’t want to correct your child’s appearance because of being vain, but you want to change her future through self-confidence,” she said. “Everybody’s self- esteem is very fragile in school. It doesn’t take long to send a kid in the wrong direction when they hear negative things all the time.”
When presented with the option of surgery Tatum was thrilled and excited.
At that point, Albert Delsanter, Tatum’s grandfather who also lives in Mentor, began researching procedures.
He visited plastic surgeon Dr. Paul Vanek in Mentor and learned that a two-hour otoplasty surgery could be performed on an out-patient basis at Mentor Surgery Center. It would remedy Tatum’s situation that is considered to be in the spectrum of cranial facial disorders.
“Dr. Vanek went out of his way to make us feel comfortable,” Delsanter said.
In a recent interview Vanek said “In the hands of an expert this is a very straightforward procedure with high patient satisfaction
and very low risk to the patient.”
So Tatum underwent the surgery in which one incision was made behind the cartilage bowl of each ear.
Permanent sutures reformed the ears rotating them both towards her head to make them much less prominent. Cartilage scoring was also needed to form whorls found in the natural ear.
“She went in to surgery with a smile and came out with a smile,” Theresa said.
The results have been nothing but beneficial.
While being interviewed Tatum admitted that she now likes the way she looks and excitedly expressed that “my confidence has gone through the roof.”
Her grades have improved and previously unkind classmates now flatter her.
“Everyone compliments me and they say ‘doesn’t she look beautiful’,” she said.
Wanting to enhance her positive experience, Vanek arranged for Tatum and her grandfather to attend the recent Little Princess Valentine’s Dance at Mentor Senior Center.
A member of the surgeon’s staff took her shopping to choose a special dress and her hair was styled up in a braid with no more fears of rude stares or whispered comments. A glittering tiara served as the crowning touch.
“She is such a beautiful and sweet girl and she didn’t want to hide and be unhappy,” Vanek said. “Tatum reminds me of how very grateful I am to be able to change people’s lives. I think sending her to the dance made me as happy as it made her.”