 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 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. Kieran's mum Louise Sorkin said: "He's a very sociable boy and has longed for this operation for years. Kieran struggled at his first school because he looked different to the other children. But this will boost his confidence no end," Sorkin said. Image caption Kieran is delighted with his new ears 
 
 His first reaction was "Wow!". Kieran was born with bilateral microtia, a congenital deformity where the external ear is underdeveloped. Medics, led by Neil Bulstrode, GOSH consultant plastic and reconstructive surgeon, have now turned his fortunes around. 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. "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. "If you can change the confidence of a patient at this young age, you can change their whole trajectory in life. 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. "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. 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." As the story says, Kieran could already hear "thanks to several previous operations and a hearing aid".
– 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.)