At EarWell Centers of Texas, headquartered in Dallas with a Southlake office, the highly trained team led by Dr. H. Steve Byrd focuses on the nonsurgical correction (ear molding) of misshapen ears in newborn infants.
The revolutionary EarWell™ Infant Ear Correction System can restore a near-perfect shape to almost any infant ear deformity within about six to eight weeks. The result is a beautifully shaped ear by the time the infant is approximately two months old.
Recent evidence shows that deformities persisting after the first two weeks of life are unlikely to self-correct, and the only remaining option is surgery in later childhood. The good news, however, is that EarWell treatment results are as good or better than what can be achieved through surgery, without the related pain, anesthesia and surgery costs.
Dr. Byrd has offered EarWell to his patients for about 13 years.
“About one of every 10 babies will have a significant deformity eligible for treatment,” Dr. Byrd says. “There could be a malformation with missing skin and cartilage or a deformity with no missing tissue but with misshapen cartilage.”
After serving as a Dallas craniofacial surgeon treating cleft lips and palates for many years, Dr. Byrd recognized the possibility of correcting ear deformities with molding in 1988 and patented the EarWell device in 2010.
It all started when a Baylor Hospital neonatologist colleague asked Dr. Byrd to look at her newborn grandson’s ears. Dr. Byrd was successful in reshaping the baby’s ears with a mold he had designed. A few years later, while managing the Dallas Children’s Medical Center clinic, Dr. Byrd found that one of every three babies was born with deformed ears. Some reshaped themselves beginning within 48 hours, but others remained.
“It’s important to treat ear deformities early, within the first 14 days of birth, while the cartilage is firm, pliable and easy to reshape. The longer we wait, the more the ear hardens into position. If treatment begins after 21 days, reshaping results drop from 95% to about 50%,” Dr. Byrd says.
The painless molding apparatus is attached in the doctor’s office in about 20 minutes for both ears. Molding typically gives a positive result with no scaring or pain, and the cost is usually covered by insurance with a pediatrician’s referral.
The FDA-approved EarWell™ Infant Ear Correction System is the only medical device to be scientifically studied, with published outcome data in peer-reviewed medical journals.
