Do you have before-and-after photos I can look at for each procedure and what are reasonable results?

Ask whose ears are in the photos

Ask to see them, and ask whose photos they are. Photos from a surgeon's own patients, plus a frank talk about your ears, give you something concrete to judge against.

Reading a surgeon's photo gallery

Photos help most when they look like your situation. When you view a surgeon's gallery, ask whether the patients shown had the same concern you have, and whether the surgeon performed the procedure personally. Also ask what the patients' ears looked like before, from the same angles you will be photographed at.

Learn the procedure first so you know what you are looking at. A major clinic describes otoplasty, the procedure and recovery in plain terms. For a Washington example, a surgical group lists a Bellevue ear, nose and throat and Lake Washington facial plastic surgery care center. If you are still deciding whose gallery to trust, a plastic surgery society's article on how to find a plastic surgeon is a good place to start.

Photo questions for an ear consult

At the consultation, ask:

• Could you show me photos of patients with ears like mine, taken before and after?
• Were these your patients, and how long after surgery were the later photos taken?
• What would a realistic result look like for me, and what would it not change?
• Is there anything about my ears that makes a result harder to predict?

Write down what you hear in your own words, then compare it with what the photos show.

What is reasonable for your ears

Only a surgeon who examines you can speak to what is reasonable for your ears.