Three-year-old Eléonore was born with a small peculiarity: she only has one ear. After a long raising of funds to fund an intervention, the young Lyonnaise eventually flew to the United States to undergo surgery. And it’s a success!
Since birth, Eléonore, a young resident of Lyon, has suffered from microtia, a malformation of the outer ear that affects only one in 15,000 children. So the little girl has only one ear canal. However, it is possible to regain almost normal hearing thanks to a particularly expensive procedure. His price? More than 80,000 euros. Another negative point besides the cost: French doctors do not operate on such young children.
In the absence of specialists in France, the parents of the little girl created the association “Une Oreille pour Eléonore” in August 2020. Objective? Fundraising to finance a reconstruction intervention using the Medpor technique in the United States. This method consists of using a synthetic implant, Medpor, for ear reconstruction. The latter is covered by a tissue graft taken under the patient’s hair. In Eléonore’s case, it is also possible to reconstruct the ear canal.
And this pussy is a success! Thanks to a wave of solidarity, the little girl was able to undergo surgery on August 2, 2022 in Los Angeles. This 8 hour procedure was performed by Dr. John Reinisch, who has operated on more than 4,000 microtia patients and trained more than 200 surgeons around the world. That same evening, Eléonore left the hospital with a new ear.
Until August 19, Eléonore has to keep a bandage on her ear to protect it. After this date, she will hear almost normal again.