# Split Earlobe Repair



## BarbR (Jan 17, 2012)

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to code for split earlobe repair? The diagnosis is acquired deformity of the ear. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.


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## mitchellde (Jan 17, 2012)

It will really depend on the procedure note, if you can post it I can be more helpful


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## BarbR (Jan 18, 2012)

Hi Debra,

The op report is listed below. Any help you could provide would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Barb



Operative Report 

Preoperative Diagnosis:	Acquired deformity of bilateral ear lobes

Postoperative Diagnosis:  	Acquired deformity of bilateral ear lobes

Anesthesia:	               General through oral endotracheal intubation

Procedure:		               Repair of split ear lobe, bilateral ears.

Blood Loss:			Minimal

Disposition:				
Patient tolerated the procedure well.  She was extubated in the operating room and transported to Postanesthesia Care Unit in good condition.

Clinical History: 
This is a female who presented to my office complaining of bilateral split ear lobe.  Those were the results of wearing earrings for a long period of time.  She requested a repair, and I scheduled her for the procedure.  

Procedure:
The patient was taken to the operating room and placed supine on the operating table.  Following induction of the general anesthesia and successful oral endotracheal intubation, the patient was prepped and draped in the usual fashion for plastic surgical procedures.  Attention was then directed to the right ear lobe where ear defects were identified and refreshed using a #15 blade with a V-shaped excision.  The total length of the defect was approximately 7 mm in length.  Following this, hemostasis was achieved with the Bovie cautery.  The wound was then closed using 5-0 fast-absorbing gut on the posterior surface first and on the anterior surface afterwards.  Exact same procedure was performed on the contralateral ear lobe.  At the end of the procedure, a total of 1 ml of 1% lidocaine plain was infiltrated in both ear lobe areas.  The patient tolerated the procedure well, was extubated in the operating room and transferred to Postanesthesia Care Unit in good condition.


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## plasticscoder (Jan 20, 2012)

Depending on how extensive the deformity is, the code selection for split earlobe repairs can range from simple to adjacent tissue transfer. For this case, I would look at simple repair.


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## mitchellde (Jan 20, 2012)

I am a little confused over the use of general anesthesia, this looks like a simple repair, and the problem is going to be the POS as an OR and the use of general anesthesia. Is here any other documentation that states why he felt this was necessary.


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## jk2003 (Jan 20, 2012)

Agree with Debra.


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## joanne71178 (Feb 24, 2013)

In real life this would never go to the OR but This is looks to be from a test.  Would you code 872.00, open wound complicated Ear?  w/12051?12011? Totally not a plausible scenario.


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## Nichole9288 (Feb 25, 2013)

I would not use open wound of ear unless it was an acute injury and literally an "open wound".  Most of the time when patients present to us for earlobe repairs there has been delay.  We typically use a V50.1 code for these as they are really cosmetic and not billable to insurance in our experience, unless it truly is an acute injury.

I agree, we would never do this under gen anesthesia either.

Just my opinion.


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## joanne71178 (Feb 26, 2013)

I appreciate the info!  Any idea on a CPT code?  What about 12051? w/V50.3?


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## Nichole9288 (Mar 1, 2013)

Yes, 12051 seems appropriate to me.


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## joanne71178 (Apr 2, 2013)

I have been told 14060 is the correct code.  It is a tissue transfer not a laceration repair.  Any thoughts?


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## ksammons (Apr 2, 2013)

I normally use the intermediate or complex closure cpt code, depending on the procedure note. 

Hope this helps


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## StephanieTheCoder (Jan 14, 2016)

*Yes, this is a test.*

I am actually taking an employment test right now, and this exact question is on it. I figured a local anesthetic would really be used for a procedure like this, but this is the test scenario.
But, thank you for the code help!

To the original poster- did you get the job?


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