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Morphological Study of External Ear in Mentally Retarded and Healthy Subjects.

Dashrath Haribhau Pimple, Geetha KN, Karuna N Katti, and GV Kesari

The external ear is a unique part of the human sensory system. Morphological defects of external ear are important because of the associated syndromes and conditions. 50% of the malformations of the ENT involve the ear. Ear malformations may be genetic (associated with syndromes or spontaneous mutations) or acquired in nature. The present study is undertaken to analyse the morphological features of external ear in normal and in subjects with mental retardation of various origin. The study was conducted in 100 subjects out of the same 50 were normal first year medical students and 50 were students with mental retardation from a school for special children. Parameters selected were the morphological features of external ear like presence or absence of Helix, Tragus, Antitragus, overall shape of the ear, features of lobule etc. 90% of the mentally retarded group showed bilateral differences in morphological features of external ear whereas only 2% of the normal healthy subjects showed bilateral differences. Positive correlation was observed between mental retardation of various etiology and morphological anomalies of the external ear.