Ears Years and Hears
Terrorists and other unsocial elements are caught even though they radically alter their physical facial characteristics. They have plastic surgery, change their hair colour, grow moustaches and shave beards. Yet they are recognized irrefutably before their fingerprints are taken. This is because although cosmetic surgery can drastically alter physical characteristics, they do not change the shape of their ears.
Ears, like finger and palm prints, and dental records, provide an irrefutable biometric method of identification. This is the rational for identification photographs requesting the subject to present three-quarters of their face to the camera. Police photographs also ask for full face and profile.
Faces change as age advances. Our ears composed of firm cartilage defy age, do not change in shape, but continue to grow through out life instead. This is why some wizened senior citizens appear to have disproportionately large ears.
Our brain has a mental picture of our outer ear or pinna. These function as ear trumpets protruding from the head on either side of the body. They collect sound which are eventually interpreted as meaningful sounds. Alteration in the shape of the pinna confuses the hearing centre in the brain. Hearing functions below par until the brain reorients itself.
Ears are formed in utero from a series of cell "folds" which fuse together in a complicated predestined sequence to give ears their shape and unique individuality.. Sometimes the fusion does not occur fully and a tiny aperture is visible in the front of the ear called a pre auricular sinus. This can remain throughout life without causing any discomfort. In some, it gets blocked with water, soap, dust and other debris. It then becomes secondarily infected, painful swollen and red, and requires surgery and antibiotics.
Improper fusion can leave small mobile skin tags in the front of the ear. They are not manifestations of "good luck" and require cosmetic surgery.
In India ear lobes are pierced, sometimes for both sexes, at an early age. It is often a social function and may be accompanied by tonsuring. The ceremony may have a religious significance, and conducted in places of worship or by pujaris.
The instruments used for both procedures are may not be clean or sterile and the experienced elder not medically qualified. The gold needle heated used traditionally for the piercing may or may not be fully sterilized. It may have been used for many years on generations of children.
Children are susceptible to tetanus and hepatitis B. Piercing should therefore preferably be done only after immunization with the three doses of triple antigen and hepatitis B have been completed.
The ear lobe is very soft and the needle goes through easily. A restless child may move suddenly so that the two ear lobes are unfortunately asymmetrically pierced. The position should therefore be clearly marked with indelible ink prior to piercing after the ear is wiped with spirit or the antiseptic poviodine iodine.
There are several advantages to early piercing. The young child is less likely to develop keloids (unsightly hyper pigmented protrusions) at the site of the piercing. Once there is a tendency for the skin to form keloids, all successive pokes will be affected.
Adolescents and older individuals pierce the cartilage of their ears in several places and have numerous earrings in each ear. The piecing unfortunately is performed by friends, relatives and unqualified enthusiasts, often using a sewing needle and thread. This often causes infection of the cartilage of the ear. If untreated it form a bag of pus. The entire ear can then be destroyed forming an unsightly "cauliflower ear" identical to the ones seen in injured boxers.
The ear and the kidney develop at the same time (around the 12th week ) in utero. An insult in the form of an illness, prescribed medication or recreational drugs in the mother can affect both at the same time. The ear, unlike the kidney, can be clearly seen.
If the ear is abnormal the kidney should be evaluated. The hearing should also be checked.
Ears may be rotated abnormally, asymmetrically located and have extra creases and folds. All these abnormalities are genetic markers and warrant a careful search for other abnormalities.
In normal ears, a straight line drawn from the outer edge of the eye should pass through the upper 1/3 of the ear. Low set are seen in Down's syndrome (Mongolism) and some other congenital conditions.
Protruding (elephant ears) are normal, run in families, and can be corrected by plastic surgery.
A crease sometimes appears in both ear lobes. Called the "ear lobe sign" in medical parlance, it is associated with elevated lipids and cholesterol. Both ears turn black as age advances in persons with alkaptinuria or homocystinuria. In uncontrolled gout, "tophi" get deposited on the earlobes and are diagnostic markers for the disease.
Look closely at ears, you might pick up what your doctor missed!
Gita Mathai @yourhealthgmyahoo.co.in
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