Giving Children Hearing and Confidence

credit: Wikimedia Foundation

"Someone won't die without an ear, but there's something significant about living with that malformation," says Mai Thy Truong, a pediatric otolaryngologist at Stanford Medicine.

She's referring to microtia, a deformity of the outer ear caused when the ear doesn't fully develop during the first trimester of pregnancy.

Truong grew up in Vietnam, where her father, a senator in his 40s, left behind an influential career that he was passionate about, she tells the San Jose Mercury News.

She saw how hard her parents worked, taking jobs in factories while learning English.

"It was a hard childhood, and my parents always taught me to be hardworking and grateful for having the chance to do what I love, and not miss an opportunity," she says.

Now Truong is treating children with microtia around the world on medical missions.

She reconstructs the ear using the child's own rib cartilage over two surgeries, as opposed to the more commonly used three- or four-stage surgeries.

She also uses 3-D printing technology to print lifelike models of the opposite ear re-created in a mirror image to improve symmetry.

"So even though it's not a vital life function, I definitely see a child go from

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