BOY LOOKS FORWARD TO SURGERY; DOCTORS DONATE EAR OPERATION TO HELP SIMI VALLEY YOUNGSTER.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

Five-year-old Sean Landaverde loves school. He doesn't like his ears, which protrude from the sides of his head, and he hates being called ``Dumbo.''

So the Simi Valley boy no longer goes to preschool. His parents took him out of class worried that he was suffering too much from constant teasing.

But pretty soon that will change. On Wednesday, Sean will undergo surgery that will put him back in the classroom.

The procedure will be performed by Dr. Edward Pechter in Valencia, who heard about Sean's problem from the California Society of Plastic Surgeons Alliance and agreed to help for free.

Pechter asked Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital to provide outpatient services and Dr. Howard Singer to provide anesthesia. They both obliged.

And Sean cannot wait. He listened intently when Pechter told him about the procedure. It will be like he's asleep, the doctor told him. They will make cuts behind his ears. They will put stitches in to fold his ears back.

It could be a scary surgery for a small child. Not for Sean.

``Then I'm going to school,'' Sean said. ``I want to operate them to go to school.''

When asked if kids tease him about his ears, Sean said no. But then he remembered.

``You mean Dumbo?'' Sean asked. ``A lot of kids say that. Every day I go to school, they call me Dumbo. Everyone does. I don't know why.''

His mother, Ana Acosta, noticed that Sean became increasingly upset because of the teasing. He was taking out his anger at school. And he was becoming a loner, avoiding the rest of the children.

Acosta and her husband, Juan Landaverde, took their son to the doctor for a solution. But their health insurance companies would not cover a procedure to fix Sean's ears.

The procedure is considered cosmetic. After all, Sean can hear just fine.

But any parent knows just what being different around a roomful of children can mean. And Acosta and Landaverde dreaded sending their son to kindergarten this year, because they knew what would happen.

They had already seen it before from adults, who stared in awe at their son.

``We were at McDonald's once and two older men came up and said, `Oh, my God! Look at those big ears! Did you see his ears?' '' Acosta said. ``These were grown men.''

And Acosta found it heartbreaking to listen to her hurt son.

``He would come to me and say, `I'm Dumbo, Mommy,' '' Acosta said. ``I kept telling him, No you're not. You're very special.''

Acosta, a kindergarten teacher, and Landaverde, a security guard, could not afford the $2,400 surgery, not to mention the hospital costs.

Then help came from Sean's old teacher. She had seen a talk show about a boy with a similar problem. They showed before- and after-pictures and then mentioned an organization that helped the boy get free help.

The teacher wrote down the information and gave it to Acosta, who hurried to contact the nonprofit California Society of Plastic Surgeons Alliance. They wanted pictures and a letter, so Acosta dug up photos she thought would show Sean's problem best. And it worked.

``There's a picture of him with a Halloween mask on, and his ears stick out on the sides so they look like part of the mask,'' said Mary Greenberg, who helped form the California Society of Plastic Surgeons Alliance.

Soon afterward, Greenberg put the family in contact with Pechter, whose practice is not far from the family's Simi Valley home.

``It's so sad. Insurance many times is purely functional,'' Greenberg said. ``If a child can hear, that's that. It's pretty cruel. When you work with plastic surgeons, you know what can be done (to help).''

The improved self-image is almost immediate, Pechter said. He keeps before- and after-pictures in his office, and anyone can tell the difference between the two, even if the problem isn't noticeable.

``In the after-pictures, they have big smiles,'' Pechter said.

Pechter has even seen children as young as 7 or 8 years old research solutions for their ears themselves, they are so eager to look like other children and fit in.

``Then they tell their parents,'' Pechter said.

Pechter considers surgeries such as Sean's reconstructive rather than cosmetic. The distinction goes beyond technical doctor talk. It is how insurance companies decide whether to pay for a procedure.

``A lot of people would consider it cosmetic, but people don't realize the trauma,'' Pechter said. ``If someone is below the level considered normal, that's reconstructive. Cosmetic is when a woman wants to get rid of some wrinkles. It will make her feel better, younger. But if Sean had normal ears, he wouldn't be looking for surgery.''

Acosta and Landaverde do not know where Sean got his ears. One time, Sean's godfather sat by the door at a family reunion and inspected each one for signs of ears like Sean's, but no one had them, Acosta said.

All the parents know is that Sean was born with some problems, including a hip displacement that required several surgeries when he was 6 months old. One of Sean's legs is longer than the other, and he wears a special shoe to compensate for the difference.

They also noticed that his ears were a little different, Acosta said. The doctor told them to give it time. But as Sean grew, so did his ears, and by the time he was about 3 years old, they could tell that his ears would not fall back against his head the way most people's do, Acosta said.

``They're not like ours. They just stick out,'' she said. ``They're not folded.''

Pechter will create that fold. During the two-hour procedure, Pechter will make cuts behind the ears and reshape the cartilage. Part of the cartilage will be scored to make it stretch, and part will be stitched to make it crease. The stitches will also help hold the cartilage in place, Pechter said.

Sean's ears will suffer bruising for a couple of weeks, and he will have to wear an elastic headband to hold his ears back, Pechter said. But after that, his ears should lie against his head like other people's.

And that's all Sean wants.

``He's very excited. He tells everyone, `I'm not going to have big ears anymore,' '' Acosta said.

For information about the California Society of Plastic Surgeons Alliance, contact Executive Director Maritza Ponce de Leon at [phone], or write to the organization at 525 Spruce Street, San Francisco, CA 94118.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Sean Landaverde, 5, gets a haircut before his upcoming surgery.

(2) (Ran in Simi and SAC Editions only) Sean Landaverde, center, poses with his family, from left, sister Alicia Landaverde, 21 months, father Juan Landaverde, mother Ana Acosta and brother Victor Landaverde, 1.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Special to the Daily News