Floral Park babies’ ears get makeover

Noah Manskar

A pair of Floral Park babies celebrated not only their three-month birthday on Sept. 29, but also their recent makeover.

When Suzanne and Michael Faeth’s twin boys were born at Katz Women’s Hospital in New Hyde Park on June 27, Suzanne noticed their ears were misshapen.

Initially unsure of what to do, she noticed a brochure in the hospital’s lobby about a painless procedure called “ear molding” that could reshape the twins’ ears.

A few weeks later, on July 16, Suzanne and Michael met with Nicholas Bastidas, a doctor at Cohen’s Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park and the author of the brochure.

Bastidas determined the twins’ age made them “excellent candidates” for the ear molding procedure, he told the North Shore-LIJ Health System.

“We thought it was a miracle,” Suzanne Faeth said in a North Shore-LIJ release. “Neither my husband nor I had ever heard of this technique. It was the most amazing coincidence.”

To do the painless and permanent procedure, Bastidas used a tool called Earwell, which applied pressure to the still-pliable cartilage in the babies’ ears to reshape them, he said. The boys wore the Earwell devices until Aug. 13.

The Faeth babies, joined by their parents and brother, 9-year-old Thomas Rademaker, thanked Bastidas during their birthday celebration at Cohen’s last week.

The party featured a pair of ear-shaped cakes, which Suzanne Faeth took a photo of for the family to keep.

Suzanne said she hopes her family’s story will encourage other parents to “search for proper treatment for their children.”

“(T)he lesson to be learned is that you know your children better than anyone else — and if something is wrong, don’t be discouraged,” she said. “Look for help and you will find it.”

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