EarBuddies were invented in 1990 by Plastic Surgeon David Gault FRCS, one of the world’s leading experts on reconstructive surgery of the outer ear, to treat his newborn son. EarBuddies are designed to be fitted at home by parents, and are also used in some of the most eminent children’s hospitals worldwide, including the NHS (UK), Mayo Clinic (USA), The Portland Hospital (London), and Boston Children’s Hospital (Harvard).
By treating babies early and avoiding surgery, EarBuddies provide better results, without risk, at lower cost, and avoid the bullying and psychological trauma that usually leads to surgery. Almost thirty years after EarBuddies were first developed, it is the world’s best selling Early Ear Correction™ system, and has helped thousands of babies to grow up comfortable and confident with their ears.
Stick-out ears like Santi's can make life miserable and lead to "reduced quality of life & self-esteem, social avoidance and poor performance in school." Children and adults are often teased and while names like 'Dumbo, Big Ears, Yoda, Spock & Wing Nut' can be meant in jest, they can have a deeper psychological impact.
Once, corrective ear surgery (Otoplasty/ Pinnaplasty) was the only option, costing up to £5000 for the average UK paediatric case. General anaesthesia and time off school or work are usually needed, and while post-op pain can be managed*, complication rates e.g. scarring can be as high as 10%.*
Now there's an ingenious way to fix your baby's ear problems before they are aware of them, avoiding the emotional impact of bullying & teasing, and the costs & complications of surgery. EarBuddies splints reshape the soft cartilage of baby's ears, resulting in a permanent, surgery-free correction.
We think of it like fitting braces to a child’s teeth, only more affordable and quicker. Newborn babies can get great results in just 2 weeks. If your baby is older, this can take longer. Santi was 5 months old when his mother fitted EarBuddies. 4 weeks later, he can grow up comfortable and confident with his ears.
“We had our daughter Tess in February of 2021. At first we didn’t notice anything wrong with her ears. But as she got older, they progressively stuck out more and more. By the time she was 3 months old, people were starting to make comments about her ears. We noticed that when she slept, her ears would fold over and that they were sticking out more and more every day. I started researching options online and all I could find was corrective surgery, which we were not interested in. But then I came across EarBuddies.
She started wearing EarBuddies at 3 months old. They weren’t complicated to put on and didn’t bother her at all. Each time we took them off to change out the bandage we were noticing a big difference. When we finally took them off after 3 months, it was quite the transformation. We are so grateful that we found EarBuddies.”
Read Kinzie's full story here!“We started our journey with EarBuddies after my baby girl was born with a lop ear. She got caught in my pelvis during delivery and it caused her ear to fold. We were told in the hospital that a simple hat would correct it. We quickly realized that this was not the case. I did some research and found EarBuddies and decided to take the chance!
We started when she was 5 weeks old so she wore the splint for 5 weeks. We couldn’t be happier that we found EarBuddies! We’re so happy with the end result! Thank you EarBuddies!”
Read Chandler's Story here“When our little angel came into the world, we noticed that something seemed odd in her ear, but we did not have any idea about what's going on and we thought it was kind of normal because the baby will grow up and her ear will take its usual form. Time passed and we did not see any progress or change of form. Surfing over the web, my wife found some interesting images that were similar to what we were seeing on our daughter's ear. That’s how we were informed about the EarBuddies solution, and the different cases posted on their website.
We followed the process as they recommended for at least 2 months and we could not be happier with the result obtained during that time. As you can see in the picture, it's like nothing happened to our baby and her ear looks awesome. We truly recommend EarBuddies.”
Read Jeffry's full story here!At least 5% of people have abnormally shaped or Stick-Out ears. Stick-Out ears are the most common ear deformity, and around 2% of babies develop Stick-Out ears in the first 6 months of life. EarBuddies can be fitted by parents at home in under 20 minutes. An independent study at the Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow in 2012 showed a 78% success rate in newborns when splints are fitted by parents, with 73% rating ease of use as 'easy' or 'incredibly easy'. With early splintage and dedication, fantastic results continue to be achieved by parents at home.
When your baby is born, the cartilage framework of the ears is extremely soft because of Mum’s hormones. Some squashing of the ears is natural at birth, but if the ears remain an odd shape after 48 hours, or if they start to stick out, this will quite quickly become permanent as the cartilage hardens. EarBuddies splints re-mould the cartilage folds in a baby's ears to restore the natural curves and hold the ear close to the side of the head so that when the framework hardens in the controlled shape, there is a permanent, surgery-free correction.
While the majority of EarBuddies™ are fitted by parents at home, when professionally fitted and the treatment supervised, success rates rise to up to 92%, even in older babies or those with difficult ear problems.
Professional fitting combines the surgery-free, permanent correction of EarBuddies™ with the clinical experience of trained fitters. Choose amongst our global network of EarBuddies™ Professionals.