HOUSTON—
One in every 8,000 to 10,000 children are born with an ear deformity know as Microtia. In August, 39News profiled 5th grader Juan Ramirez as he underwent surgery to give him a new ear. Since then, all his classmates have had one question in mind."They all ask me the same question, what happened? How does it feel? Some of them really want to see my ear," said Ramirez.
It took four and a half hours of ear reconstruction surgery to give Juan a right ear. Two months later, the 9-year-old has a scar behind his left ear where Dr. Raghu Athre harvested skin to graft to his new ear.
"The progression from being swollen to the skin grafts takingÂ… it's a remarkable transformation," said Dr. Raghu Athre.
Its a transformation that would not have taken place without the time and space donated by Dr. Athre and Southeast Memorial Hermann Hospital.
"We are very grateful with the help we received because we didn't know how we could have paid for it all," said Francisco Ramirez, Juan's father.
Juan still has several months of recovery ahead of him before his ear is completely healed.
"I am very pleased, Juan's recovery was much faster than I expected. I am pleased because he is so happy," said Rosalind del la Torre, Juan's mother.
Since the surgery, Juan has had to wear a protective cover.
"It's made out of plastic, it protects my ear from anything, but it doesn't protect it from sweating," he said.
He'll still have to be careful not to cut his ear, which would require a round of antibiotics, but Juan doesn't have to worry about any more surgeries.
"I really expected to possibly do this in two stages meaning he may need a touch up procedure down the road in the future, but looking at his results, I think he is pretty much going to be a done deal with one stage," said Dr. Athre.
Soon enough his right ear will match his left one, and in class tomorrow the question on everyone's mind will finally be put to rest. As for Juan, he's just glad he can go outside and play again.
"I feel fantastic," he said
