Amber Tamblyn Questions Her Decision To Undergo This Cosmetic Surgery At 12

LOADINGERROR LOADINGAmber Tamblyn is speaking out about her decision to undergo a cosmetic procedure known as ear pinning before rising to fame as a child actor.Tamblyn, whose credits include “Joan of Arcadia” and “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” addressed having the surgery for the first time in a New York Times essay published Sunday.

Advertisement “As a little girl I had ears that stuck out like big butterfly wings.Some kids at my school in Los Angeles would make fun of them, and I’d often stare at myself in the mirror wishing my ears would lay flat against my head,” she wrote.

After landing her first major television role at age 12, Tamblyn said she chose to get her ears pinned as she’d come to the understanding that “millions of people all over the world would be judging me on their television screens.” Still, as a “fiery young feminist who raged against the patriarchy,” she felt like a bit of a “hypocrite.” “Going under the knife felt like choosing a weapon I could wield in self-defense against my own disposability,” she wrote.“It showed the world I understood the assignment of assimilation — that I could do whatever it took to fit in, never stand out, the way my ears once did.” Ear pinning, also known as otoplasty, is a cosmetic procedure that involves altering cartilage and skin in order to move a patient’s protruding ears closer to their head.

Advertisement In a New York Times essay, Amber Tamblyn said she chose to get her ears pinned at age 12 after coming to the understanding that "millions of people all over the world would be judging me on their television screens."John Nacion via Getty ImagesTamblyn, now 41, didn’t mention the television role for which she’d decided to undergo ear pinning.However, she made her television acting debut on “General Hospital” in 1995, the same year she turned 12.

She played the role of Emily Quartermaine on the long-running soap opera through 2001.Of co...