Ridah

Right auricular prosthesis, clipped onto a gold bar

I was born in 1976 and my right ear was much smaller than my left ear, which had developed normally. At the age of 7, an attempt was made to reconstruct the pinna by surgery, but my body rejected it. So we abandoned this idea.

I started working in 1996 without encountering any particular problems. As I wear my hair very short, I looked around for an alternative solution, especially for the aesthetic aspect. It was only in 2000 that I heard about prostheses. Dr Saury put the implants in. At that time, I was far from expecting that my prosthesis would change my life in the long term as much as it did. The first thing I did when I received my prosthesis was to buy sunglasses. I couldn’t wear them before because they wouldn’t stay in place on a single ear. It may seem trivial, but for me it was an unforgettable moment.

With my current professional responsibilities, I have to participate in external meetings and seminars. My prosthesis has given me confidence when I speak in public and at meetings with my colleagues. Today, I’m married and I’ve got two children aged 13 and 9 and I am happy in my personal and professional life.

Thanks to Anne-Marie Riedinger and my prosthesis, I can now realise my full potential in my exhilarating job as a firefighter. Wearing a helmet, hat or cap is no longer a problem for me and you can’t tell the difference between my natural ear and the prosthesis. And during interventions, the people we rescue, especially children, are longer surprised or ask questions.

I tried the system with magnet attachments, but I feel more secure when the prosthesis is clipped onto the gold bar, especially for my interventions as a firefighter. I feel that there should be more awareness-raising on the options provided by prosthetic reconstruction using implants.