Keywords: auricular perichondritis, acupuncture, external otitis

Abstract: A healthy 24-year-old woman, in the third month of pregnancy, presented to the outpatient clinic, with perichondritis in the right auricle, secondary to acupuncture placed in her right pinna to reduce body weight. The authors discuss the pathogenesis of perichondritis, its clinical aspects, the surgical treatment and the evolution of a severe subsequent cosmetic deformity, if adequate treatment is not established early enough. This case presentation suggests that acupuncture is not without risks, as believed, and show that complications may occur with this kind of treatment.