'Botched': Andre's 'snail'-like keloid on the ear made him a target for bullies, can Dr Paul Nassif help him?
Andre is a jolly person, but one thing that is holding him back is the keloid on his ear. Appearing on the latest episode on August 3, Andre revealed that he had faced a lot of bullying due to his ear as many would tease him stating his keloid looked like a snail or a golf ball. When he was young, Andre was diagnosed with microtia, a congenital deformity of the outer ear.
His mother, Malika confessed that for a long time she blamed herself for her son's deformity and questioned where she went wrong. Appearing on the show, Dr Paul Nassif and Dr Terry Dubrow assured her that it was not her fault. While Andre managed to get surgery for his microtia at a young age, he was shocked to find out that he had developed a keloid.
A keloid is a scar tissue that tends to develop in an area that needs healing. After analyzing Andre's situation, Dr Nassif revealed that they had two options in front of them — use a small part of the rib and put it in place of the keloid to make sure the area is covered. The second option was to inject him with a medicine that is known to heal the scar tissue.
The chances of the keloid healing with the injection were less, but seeing Andre in need of an ear that looked exactly like the other, Dr Nassif decided to operate both the options on him. He started with removing the keloid and keeping it to use some of the skin on it to cover the rest of his ear.
He then took two small pieces of ribs to put them in the area where the keloid had devolved. Dr Nassif hoped that the rib would act as a blocker and stop the keloid from growing. He then injected some medicine to it with the hope that it would stop the growth. Using the rib and skin from the keloid, Dr Nassif managed to construct an ear that was almost the size of his other ear.
After a couple of weeks, Andre noticed that the skin graft came out. Luckily for him, there was a piece of rib that Dr Nassif thought he could work with. Before Andre knew it, he performed another procedure and stitched the ear. With time, Andre's ear healed and he admitted it felt like a rebirth. 'Botched' airs on Mondays at 9 pm ET on E!