Ruptured eardrum

rapidseal40 said:Here is another issue regarding a perforated eardrum 🙂. My perforation is actually fifteen years old; I got it from a blow to my left ear, and right after that impact, my hearing dropped. I wanted to go diving so badly, but I couldn't because of it. To be honest, I avoided seeing a doctor for years because I have this deep-seated anxiety whenever I have to deal with medical professionals. Since then, I've dealt with frequent ear infections and pain. Eventually, you just have to face reality, so a few days ago, I finally saw a specialist. He performed an audiogram and examined my ear; apparently, there is a significant hole, and my hearing loss is around 15 decibels. I am not entirely sure if that qualifies as a major loss. He recommended surgery, and I agreed, so I went to the hospital to schedule a date. What gave me pause was when the doctor mentioned—strictly because the law requires him to disclose it—that there is a less than 1% risk of total hearing loss in that ear during the procedure. He emphasized how rare that is, but still. I am wondering if anyone else has heard similar things. The surgery would be done under general anesthesia. The main reason I want to go through with this myoplasty is that the doctor told me I’d essentially have a "new" ear, allowing me to dive again and experience true stereo sound 🙂. If anyone has any insight or advice, I would appreciate it. Thanks

You see, you see, they didn't tell me the part in bold. 🤷
I am currently waiting for my surgery; my appointment is set for four weeks from now. If I had been hesitating before, I might have gone back and forth on whether to agree to this, but those doubts are gone now. Ever since the temperatures dropped, it's been nothing but trouble.
My ENT surgeon told me he guarantees an 80% success rate for the patch, and the rest is up in the air. I have a narrow and unusually curved ear canal.
Oh, and just to clarify, my eardrum didn't rupture; I simply have a perforation.
😢

feralridge3 said:You see, you see, they didn't tell me the part in bold. 🤷
I am currently waiting for my surgery; my appointment is set for four weeks from now. If I had been hesitating before, I might have gone back and forth on whether to agree to this, but those doubts are gone now. Ever since the temperatures dropped, it's been nothing but trouble.
My ENT surgeon told me he guarantees an 80% success rate for the patch, and the rest is up in the air. I have a narrow and unusually curved ear canal.
Oh, and just to clarify, my eardrum didn't rupture; I simply have a perforation.
😢

I've made my decision too. Whatever happens, happens. Dealing with these issues constantly is getting old, and since my surgery is in 20 days, I'm just hoping I can get those lost 15 decibels back.

feralridge3, rapidseal40—could you both let me know how the surgery went? Thanks. 😁

Robin Grant8 said:feralridge3, rapidseal40—could you both let me know how the surgery went? Thanks. 😁

I honestly have nothing to complain about. 😉
It’s been six months since my surgery, and I have a follow-up appointment next week.
I was hospitalized for three weeks.
There were no extreme enemas or fasting required. 😍
The procedure itself wasn't even that long; they get you back to your room quickly and expect you to be up and moving almost immediately.
To be perfectly honest, it felt like child's play to me, considering I've already endured two brain tumor surgeries. 😲
You won't be stuck in the hospital for more than a week. You receive a list of necessary tests and can just complete them in your own city. If there are no complications, they usually operate the very next day after hospitalization. In my case, I was operated on a Monday. I spent the weekend at home and returned on Monday to handle the dressings and the paperwork.

They gave me analgesics, though I didn't bother taking them. I had some minor discomfort, but I opted out. For a little while, there was some fluid draining from my ear, but that stopped after a bit.

You really have to be careful not to let water get into your ear when you're washing your hair. They told me no swimming pools and no soaking in baths. For a period, my ear would "pop" every time I opened my mouth. My ENT surgeon assured me that this was completely normal. That popping sensation has since subsided. At my last check-up two months ago, he mentioned that everything had healed well—at least what he can see, anyway, since the curvature of the auditory canal makes it difficult to view the entire eardrum.

As for hearing loss, I can't offer much insight. I am gradually losing my hearing due to radiation treatment for my brain tumor. 😢

feralridge3 said:I honestly have nothing to complain about. 😉
It’s been six months since my surgery, and I have a follow-up appointment next week.
I was hospitalized for three weeks.
There were no extreme enemas or fasting required. 😍
The procedure itself wasn't even that long; they get you back to your room quickly and expect you to be up and moving almost immediately.
To be perfectly honest, it felt like child's play to me, considering I've already endured two brain tumor surgeries. 😲
You won't be stuck in the hospital for more than a week. You receive a list of necessary tests and can just complete them in your own city. If there are no complications, they usually operate the very next day after hospitalization. In my case, I was operated on a Monday. I spent the weekend at home and returned on Monday to handle the dressings and the paperwork.

They gave me analgesics, though I didn't bother taking them. I had some minor discomfort, but I opted out. For a little while, there was some fluid draining from my ear, but that stopped after a bit.

You really have to be careful not to let water get into your ear when you're washing your hair. They told me no swimming pools and no soaking in baths. For a period, my ear would "pop" every time I opened my mouth. My ENT surgeon assured me that this was completely normal. That popping sensation has since subsided. At my last check-up two months ago, he mentioned that everything had healed well—at least what he can see, anyway, since the curvature of the auditory canal makes it difficult to view the entire eardrum.

As for hearing loss, I can't offer much insight. I am gradually losing my hearing due to radiation treatment for my brain tumor. 😢

Thanks for getting back to me 🙂. I have a few more questions.

Is your hearing any better after the surgery?

How did they clean out your ear? About three years ago, I had a perforated eardrum and went to the Mayo Clinic. They used water to clean it even though it was punctured, which I thought was way too aggressive. That's my biggest fear—I won't let them do that to me again. I'm worried they might make things worse, so I'm thinking about trying a different hospital instead.

Robin Grant8 said:Thanks for getting back to me 🙂. I have a few more questions.

Is your hearing any better after the surgery?

How did they clean out your ear? About three years ago, I had a perforated eardrum and went to the Mayo Clinic. They used water to clean it even though it was punctured, which I thought was way too aggressive. That's my biggest fear—I won't let them do that to me again. I'm worried they might make things worse, so I'm thinking about trying a different hospital instead.

How did they clean my ear?
Once they finally managed to clear it out (they told me it looked like I'd shoved a piece of gum right up in there) and spotted the perforation in the eardrum, they told me I have to be extremely careful about keeping water out of my ear, not poking around in there, and avoiding any earwax removal drops since there was so much buildup—basically, just don't touch anything.
The surgery was performed at Mount Sinai. 😉
I can't tell you if your hearing will improve after the patching procedure, because I am slowly losing my hearing due to radiation treatment for a brain tumor.
I have a follow-up appointment next week. It's been six months since the surgery.
I'll let you know how it goes.

I figured I’d weigh in here. I had my surgery done in Paris, and honestly, I don't regret it. I guess I was a bit freaked out for a few days right after because I thought my left ear might stay looking pinched or deformed, but that was just the swelling, and things eventually returned to normal. They put me under general anesthesia; the actual procedure took about an hour, though I didn't actually wake up until four hours later—it must have been some heavy-duty anesthesia—but I was still able to head home the same day. My recovery went pretty smoothly. At the first follow-up, the doctor mentioned there was a tiny little indentation, like the tissue hadn't quite filled in all the way, so she applied some silicone. I went back fifteen days later, and she told me everything had closed up perfectly. I was relieved since the perforation had been pretty significant. Now, I can shower and hit the pool without any issues. As for my hearing, it hasn't really changed. They expected there might be some improvement, but I haven't noticed anything yet, though the loss wasn't massive to begin with. I have one more hearing test scheduled for September.

So, I took a bit of a hit to my right ear and now things sound kind of muffled... honestly, there’s no pain at all, which is weird, but I was wondering if anyone here has dealt with something similar? Like, does anyone know if my hearing is actually going to come back to normal or if I should be worried

Noticing this thread is pretty quiet, but here goes... Last weekend, I took a dive straight onto my face into the ocean from about 13 feet up. Don't ask. The plan was to jump, but I slipped instead... Ended up in a coma...

Long story short: ruptured eardrum in my right ear. There's a tiny 2mm hole where seawater managed to seep in right after the pop. Currently on antibiotics just to prevent an infection, plus nasal drops because the impact messed with my sinuses too.

How did you all deal with this while waiting for the eardrum to heal? I’ve only been dealing with this for a few days and I'm already losing my mind. When the doctor mentioned this could drag on for months, I honestly felt lightheaded...

Follow-up appointments are scheduled for 3 and 6 weeks out. The problem is, I have a flight in 15 days, and I'm praying everything heals by then. The specialist said flying is technically okay, but it might be painful... Any advice?

Good afternoon, everyone. I recently checked into the hospital for surgery to repair a perforated eardrum. My surgeon decided to perform a full replacement rather than just patching the hole, using some tissue she harvested from behind my ear. She explained that since my original eardrum was quite scarred and distorted, she needed to use this graft to ensure a better structural result. Now, I’m feeling a bit anxious about whether this might actually lead to further hearing loss in that ear. It seems logical to worry that this transplanted tissue might not function quite as effectively as a natural eardrum would. Has anyone here undergone this specific type of procedure—I believe the medical term is myringoplasty?