text: A boy born without ears has had a pair created from his own ribs at Great Ormond Street hospital. 
   
   Nine-year-old Kieran was born deaf and also had a rare condition which meant he did not have fully formed ears – only small lobes where his ears should have been. 
   
   Last week's procedure was primarily cosmetic but, thanks to several previous operations and a hearing aid, Kieran has gradually been able to hear. Without help he is still about 90% deaf, but, when using hearing aids, he could "hear the wind blow and the birds tweet", David Sorkin, his father, said. 
   
   Before the surgery, Kieran, from Bushey, Hertfordshire, said: "I've always wanted big ears, and now I'm finally going to have them." Following the procedure his parents helped him to take a photograph of his newly crafted ear, or a "side selfie". Sorkin said he and his wife, Louise, were "on cloud nine" after the procedure. "We could not have wished for a better result," Sorkin said. 
   
   Kieran struggled at his first school because he looked different to the other children. He has since moved to a school with a deafness unit in every year group. 
   
   "They are a little bit more receptive to deafness and to a child looking different. But this will boost his confidence no end," Sorkin said. "His reaction was just a 'wow', he is very happy." The 44-year-old IT manager added: "It's been heart-wrenching for us and we've had the moral dilemma all along of whether it's right to change the features that Kieran was born with. But Kieran has talked about having ear surgery ever since the age of six when he saw a TV programme about it. 
   
   "It was very important that this was Kieran's decision, and I think it's happened at exactly the right time for his development." 
   
   He also described Kieran's difficulties at school, saying: "He had problems at school in that he didn't gel very well in the groups because he looked different to other kids and he only had one or two friends at his previous school. He has now moved to a different school now and they have a deaf unit in every year so they are a little bit more receptive to deafness and to a child looking different." 
   
   Kieran was born with bilateral microtia, a congenital deformity where the external ear is underdeveloped. It affects one in 100,000 babies. 
   
   Medics, led by Neil Bulstrode, GOSH consultant plastic and reconstructive surgeon, have now turned his fortunes around. 
   
   During the six-hour operation Bulstrode harvested the rib cartilage from both sides of Kieran's chest and then carved and shaped it into frameworks for Kieran's ears. When designing them he used an outline of Mrs Sorkin's ears as a "family template" to make them as close as possible to the ear shape that he might otherwise have had. 
   
   He then grafted the ears on to Kieran's head under pockets of skin and then used a vacuum to shape the skin to the contours of the new ear. 
   
   "Bilateral reconstructions are sometimes done one at a time, but for Kieran we have created both of his new ears at the same time," Bulstrode said. "This allows us to ensure the ears are balanced and achieve the best result 
   
   "It's a major operation but it brings a significant improvement in quality of life for children with microtia. Their confidence improves exponentially and their performance at school improves," he said. "If you can improve a young person's confidence, you can alter their whole trajectory in life." 
   
   Kieran will have a follow-up operation in six months' time, and hopefully he will not need to have any more, Mr Sorkin added. 
   
   "These should last because they are cartilage and not prosthetics," he said 
   
   A hospital spokeswoman said that researchers were working with the University College London Institute for Child Health to try to perform ear reconstructions for children like Kieran by growing new ear frameworks and other skeletal structures from a child's own stem cells. 
   
   They hope to be able to use stem cells from a child's own fat to create a new ear. Experts say that the approach would be far less invasive than the current treatment. 
   
   • This article was amended on 12 August 2014. The original headline stated: "Boy born without ears can hear thanks to pioneering procedure". As the story says, Kieran could already hear "thanks to several previous operations and a hearing aid". The headline has been corrected. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Kieran, his family and his surgeon, before, during and after the operation 
   
   A boy who was born without ears has had a pair created from his ribs. 
   
   Nine-year-old Kieran Sorkin had the surgery at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital. 
   
   About 100 children a year in the UK are born without one or both ears, a condition known as microtia. 
   
   Kieran was born deaf with small lobes where his ears should be. He can already hear, thanks to previous surgery to implant a hearing aid. 
   
   "I want people to stop asking me questions", said Kieran from Hertfordshire. "I'd like just to look like my friends. 
   
   "I'd also like to be able to wear sunglasses and earphones." 
   
   Kieran's mum Louise Sorkin said: "He's a very sociable boy and has longed for this operation for years. 
   
   "I don't want children bullying him because he's different. I just want him to be accepted like everyone else." 
   
   On the morning of the operation, consultant plastic surgeon Neil Bulstrode stencils the shape of Louise Sorkin's ears. 
   
   He said: "When a patient has one ear we can match the new ear to that. Fortunately Kieran's mum has very pretty ears so that should work well." 
   
   Psychological benefits 
   
   In theatre the surgical team remove cartilage from six of his ribs. It is cut, shaped and sewn. 
   
   Image caption Kieran's ears were shaped from cartilage taken from his ribs 
   
   These frameworks are inserted in pockets in the skin and then using suction, they take on the shape of an ear on both sides. 
   
   Great Ormond Street Hospital does about 40 of these operations each year, although most of those are to create one missing ear. 
   
   The surgery is cosmetic, not to improve hearing. But Mr Bulstrode said it brings huge psychological benefits. 
   
   "If you can change the confidence of a patient at this young age, you can change their whole trajectory in life. 
   
   "You see this when they come back. It's a huge boost for them." 
   
   Tissue engineering 
   
   Advances in tissue engineering mean that this kind of reconstructive surgery could be done quite differently within a decade. 
   
   Scientists at the Institute of Child Health (ICH), part of University College London, are creating stem cells from patients' fat tissue. 
   
   The Institute, which is Great Ormond Street Hospital's research partner, induces the cells to make cartilage or bone. 
   
   Dr Patrizia Ferretti, leader of the ICH's Development and Regeneration Group, who is leading the study, said: "This approach would be far less invasive for a child than the current method of harvesting a child's rib cartilage." 
   
   Last year scientists in the US implanted a human-like ear, grown from cow and sheep cells, onto a rat. 
   
   But such research is still at its early stages, and for the foreseeable future children needing new ears will benefit from the same procedure used at Great Ormond Street Hospital. 
   
   Three days after surgery, Kieran is given a mirror to look at his new ears. 
   
   Image caption Kieran is delighted with his new ears 
   
   His first reaction was "Wow!". Kieran started to giggle, but the operation on his ribs means it hurts when he laughs. 
   
   Kieran will need a second operation in six months to make his ears stand out from the scalp more, but he's already delighted with the result.
target: – An operation in London has given 9-year-old Kieran Sorkin a pair of ears—made from his ribs, no less. Born deaf with no ears, Kieran was able to hear because of an implanted hearing aid, but he still wanted ears. "I want people to stop asking me questions," he told the BBC. "I'd like just to look like my friends. I'd also like to be able to wear sunglasses and earphones." So surgeons traced an outline of Kieran's mom's ears, removed cartilage from the boy's ribs, and sliced, contoured, and sewed the cartilage. Then they put it in two skin pockets and vacuumed them into the shape of ears. They don't perform any function, but Kieran's plastic surgeon says they can deliver a huge confidence boost: "If you can change the confidence of a patient at this young age, you can change their whole trajectory in life," he said. The ears should last, too, because they're made of cartilage rather than prosthetics, the Guardian reports. Every year about 100 British newborns lack one or both ears (it's called microtia), and the hospital Kieran went to performs the operation about 40 times a year. Scientists hope to one day make ears from the fat tissue of patients, instead of ribs. Kieran might have liked that, since he got so excited on seeing his new ears that he cried "Wow!" and giggled—which made his ribs hurt from the operation. (Click to read about a man who needed surgery to remove a tooth growing in his nose.)