{"id":1782,"date":"2020-11-09T06:16:56","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T06:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blog.kayawell.com\/?p=1782"},"modified":"2024-11-07T15:51:55","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T15:51:55","slug":"national-microtia-awareness-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/national-microtia-awareness-day","title":{"rendered":"National Microtia Awareness Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>November 9th is marked as <strong>Microtia Awareness Day<\/strong>. Microtia is a congenital birth defect in which the ear or ears do not fully develop during the 1st trimester of pregnancy. It means when one or both ears do not fully develop or are physically missing. Microtia is often accompanied by Aural Atresia \u00e2\u20ac\u201c when the ear canals are underdeveloped or absent, resulting in hearing loss<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the\nUnited States, Microtia and Aural Atresia affect 1 in every 6,000 births which\nare approximately 663 babies born each year. There are an estimated 54,000\nindividuals currently living in the United States with Microtia and Atresia.\nIndividuals born with Microtia face hearing loss, facial challenges, and the\nlonging for social acceptance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some facts\nabout microtia:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Unilateral\nmicrotia:<\/strong> In this only one ear is affected. This is\nthe most common form as 90% of microtia cases are unilateral.<ul><li><strong>Bilateral\nmicrotia:<\/strong> In this both the ears are affected. It\noccurs in one out of 25,000 births. In this case, children are at risk of\ngreater hearing loss leading to poor speech development.<\/li><\/ul><ul><li><strong>Microtia<\/strong> occurs more\noften in males than in females and affects the right ear more than the left.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_73 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\r\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\r\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\r\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\r\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/national-microtia-awareness-day\/#The_Four_Grades_of_Microtia\" title=\"The Four Grades of Microtia\">The Four Grades of Microtia<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/national-microtia-awareness-day\/#What_causes_microtia\" title=\"What causes microtia?\">What causes microtia?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/national-microtia-awareness-day\/#How_is_microtia_diagnosed\" title=\"How is microtia diagnosed?\">How is microtia diagnosed?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Four_Grades_of_Microtia\"><\/span>The Four Grades of Microtia<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Grade 1: <\/strong>Your child\nmay have a small ear with mostly normal ear anatomy, but the ear canal may be\nnarrowed or missing. Though most normal features are present in this grade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Grade 2:<\/strong> The bottom\n1\/3 of the ear of your child\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ear, including the earlobe, may appear to be\nnormally developed, but the top two-thirds are small and malformed. The ear\ncanal may be narrow or missing. A partial ear with a closed-off external ear\ncanal producing hearing loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Grade 3:<\/strong> This is the\nmost common type of microtia observed in infants and children. The ear appears\nas a small, peanut-shaped formation of cartilage and a relatively well-formed\near lobe. In grade 3 the external ear canal is usually absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Grade 4:<\/strong> Also\nreferred to as anotia, it is the most severe form of microtia. Your child has\nanotia if there is no ear or ear canal present, either unilaterally or\nbilaterally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_causes_microtia\"><\/span>What causes microtia?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Microtia is\na congenital (present at birth) condition. No one exactly knows why microtia\noccurs, however environmental and drug factors have been questioned. It is said\nthat Microtia usually develops during the first trimester of pregnancy, in the\nearly weeks of development. Its cause is mostly unidentified but has sometimes\nbeen linked to drug or alcohol use during pregnancy, genetic conditions or\nchanges, environmental triggers, and a diet low in carbohydrates and folic\nacid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One most\nrecognizable risk factor for microtia is the use of acne medication Accutane\n(isotretinoin) during pregnancy. This medicine has been associated with\nmultiple congenital abnormalities, including microtia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another\npossible reason can be diabetes, If the mother is diabetic before pregnancy it\nis of high risk for giving birth to a baby with microtia than other pregnant\nwomen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Microtia\ndoesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t appear to be a genetically inherited condition, for the most part, if\none or both parents have microtia, it is not necessarily passed on to their\nchildren.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_is_microtia_diagnosed\"><\/span>How is microtia diagnosed?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The\npediatrician should be able to diagnose your child\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s microtia through\nobservation. To determine the severity of microtia, your child\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doctor will\norder an exam with an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialist and hearing tests\nwith a pediatric audiologist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also\npossible to diagnose the extent of a child\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s microtia through a CAT scan,\nalthough this is mostly done only when a child is older.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\naudiologist will examine the child\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s level of hearing loss, and the ENT will\nconfirm whether an ear canal is present or absent. Your child\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ENT will also\nbe able to guide you regarding options for hearing assistance or reconstructive\nsurgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some\nfamilies elect not to intervene surgically. If your child is an infant,\nreconstructive surgery of the ear canal can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be done yet. If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re\nuncomfortable with surgical options, you can wait until your child is older.\nSurgeries for microtia tend to be easier for older children, as there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more\ncartilage available to graft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\npossible for some children born with microtia to use nonsurgical hearing\ndevices. Depending on the extent of your child\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s microtia, they may be a\ncandidate for this type of device, especially if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re too young for surgery\nor if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re postponing it. Hearing aids may also be used if an ear canal is\npresent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>November 9th is marked as Microtia Awareness Day. Microtia is a congenital birth defect in which the ear or ears do not fully develop during the 1st trimester of pregnancy. It means when one or both ears do not fully develop or are physically missing. Microtia is often accompanied by Aural Atresia \u00e2\u20ac\u201c when the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1050],"tags":[373,372],"class_list":["post-1782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebration-days","tag-important-dates-in-november","tag-important-days-in-november"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kayawell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}