# accessory auricle



## Jamie Dezenzo (Jun 9, 2009)

Hello all,

Op note reads:

The right preauricular area was prepped and draped in a sterile fashion and the area of the skin tag infiltrated with 1% Xylocaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine. A longitudinal elliptical incision line was then outlined and made with the #15 blade going down through skin and subq tissue. Any underlying cartilage was excised and any bleeding controled and wound closed.

Path came back "accessory auricle"


69145 doesn't seem right but not so sure about 11200??? Any thoughts?


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## magnolia1 (Jun 9, 2009)

I would go with the code range 11440-11446.


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## Kelly_Mayumi (Jul 29, 2011)

This post is a couple years old.  Has anything new happened with accessory auricles?


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## chaltom77 (Aug 5, 2011)

What about code 69110 for accessory auricles that contain cartilage?


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## Kelly_Josephine (Sep 23, 2016)

I am struggling with this excision scenario also. 

I coded 11440 and 11440-59 (Excision, other benign lesion including margins, except skin tag (unless listed elsewhere), face, ears, eyelids, nose, lips, mucous membrane; excised diameter 0.5 cm or less) because there were closures made for excisions of two accessory auricles. 

An internal audit came back with alternate/preferred choice of 11200 (Removal of skin tags, multiple fibrocutaneous tags, any area; up to and including 15 lesions) but no citation. 

I thought that an accessory auricle Q17.0 was not a true skin tag. Also, I thought that 11200 was relevant when no closure, repair, sutures are made. In any event, I can not find any definitive source to confirm either coding scenario. 

I would really like to get to the bottom of this, although I do not have access to CPT Assistant to see if they ever covered this question. I see several threads on this query but no resolution. Another suggested codes include 69110 (Excision external ear; partial, simple repair), which seems feasible as well. I have tried online searching "accessory auricle auricular tragus preauricular skin tag excision removal Q17.0 744 11440 11200 69100" in every possible combination and am stuck.


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