Curiosity always gets the better of me...

[Kryten]

Don't read on if you're particularly squeamish!

I've been between 50% and 100% deaf in my right ear for the last year. Docs have put me on oral and aural antibiotics to no effect so finally referred me to a specialist today. Turns out there's a particularly large hole (more than a perforation) in my eardrum and substantial damage to the surrounding area, meaning I need a CT scan and a 4 hour operation to rebuild that area of the ear.

I hate hospitals and I'm really not looking forward to this, although having it done in a private hospital has put me at ease a little bit. However, I've always researched ANYTHING that goes near me online. Drugs, antibiotic drops, wisdom teeth removal etc, I've always had a google around to see what's in them or what's involved.

1. There is NOTHING sacred on the Internet any more. There is NOTHING you will not find.
2. Not content with just one or two videos of various procedures from ear wax and tick removal all the way up to rebuilds and grafts, there's THOUSANDS of them. A few DIY videos (just earwax thankfully!) and a buttload of doctors with nothing better to do than stick cameras in patients ears and post them on the Internet.
3. I really hope I'm not this way inclined when I have my first prostate check...

 

[Access Denied]

Doesn't your girlfriend give you a prostate exam every night anyway? Thank gawd you've never felt like posting that! =P

 

[Punishment]

I wouldn't worry too much mate, i just spent the last 2-3 evenings brining my mam in and out to the hospital here in Galway while my younger brother Noel (22 year old with spina bifida) has been in to get a small op to take some infected tissue out of his ear canal that developed from him having a problem with wax build up over the years that wasn't properly treated/cleaned professionally while my dad stayed overnight with him. He had the op this morning and all went well and he was around after the 3 hour procedure that went well fit to eat a horse

He is terrified of needles and all that and even he seemed grand when i went in to drive mam home this evening and was talking to him, there is nothing to be afraid of so my advice is go ahead with it asap don;t go poking stuff in your earholes as if you damage any nerve endings you could end up with stuff like a droopy eye.

Best of luck with it

 

[old.Osy]

Make sure they probe the right ear mate. Just sayin'

 

[mycenae]

I believe you're talking about an atticotomy?
I've looked after a lot of kids post op who have had this, and generally the biggest complaint is dizziness and nausea, which is very common after anything to do with your ears, and there are medicines you can have to counteract it. Generally not reported as too painful. If needles really worry you, you can always request a pre med, and some gas to go off to sleep with......seeing as its a private hospital they'll normally do anything you want unless there is a medical reason not to! You'll probably have a pressure bandage round your ear and head for at least 24-48 hours, after which they should let you go home as long as the wound is ok. Scarring is generally minimal and very well hidden.
As others have said, after this op in particular, be VERY cautious about putting anything in your ears, such as cotton buds etc....and you will be advised not to swim or immerse your head in water for about 8 weeks....also have to be very careful when washing hair. I believe you'll have ear drops and painkillers to go home with.
Am happy to answer any queries or concerns you may have x x

 

[Tilda]

I've seen an ear drum replacement, its pretty amazing.
They harvest fascia from the muscle behind your ear, flap your whole ear forwards and then tunnel through the bone outside your ear canal. Then they enter the middle ear and pop the fascia up against the defect in the ear drum. Pretty cool, even cooler when you're stood behind the surgeon and he says some and stand *right* behind me so you can look through the secondary microscope!

 

[DaGaffer]

My doctor once told me, "the smallest thing you should put in your ear is your elbow". Sage advice that I've ignored to my cost down the years.

 

[caLLous]

People have always warned me about using cotton buds (not least because you could get carried away and push it in too far but also because it's apparently not actually that effective at removing wax) but I have never listened. Touch wood nothing's gone wrong yet.

 

[Zenith.UK]

Sounds exactly like someone I know (no not me).
They had their eustachian tube blocked, it built up the pressure in their ear until it blew out the eardrum. Because the docs didn't treat the cause, just the symptoms, it kept blowing until one time it blew out the tiny hearing bones as well. They're now profoundly deaf in that ear with the only possibility of hearing in the future being a cochlea implant.

It doesn't help that the other ear is down to about 60% capability, maybe because they have to use it for all their hearing.

 

[Access Denied]

Sounds exactly like someone I know (no not me).
They had their eustachian tube blocked, it built up the pressure in their ear until it blew out the eardrum. Because the docs didn't treat the cause, just the symptoms, it kept blowing until one time it blew out the tiny hearing bones as well. They're now profoundly deaf in that ear with the only possibility of hearing in the future being a cochlea implant.

It doesn't help that the other ear is down to about 60% capability, maybe because they have to use it for all their hearing.

Sounds like and open and shut case of Clinical Negligence to me. Your mate could get a lot of money is they sued.

 

[WPKenny]

I had two operations for a perforated ear drum when I was around 10 or so.
Operation's fine but they wrapped a bandage around my head (to stop my ear falling off) so tight I had a constant headache for days till they removed it. over 20 years later and I still need to avoid getting water in it and I can never go scuba diving.

 

[Tilda]

Sounds like and open and shut case of Clinical Negligence to me. Your mate could get a lot of money is they sued.

No it doesn't. A Doctor is only expected to do as the majority of doctors would do in the same situation.
A doctor can only treat on the basis of symptoms, if the symptoms suggest an ear infection, antibiotics are reasonable. The fact is that a proportion of middle ear infections will result in perforation anyway. Therefore unlikely to be negligent.

Surely your mate could just get an ear drum replacement? Unless he's damaged the bones in the ear too?

 

[Access Denied]

No it doesn't. A Doctor is only expected to do as the majority of doctors would do in the same situation.
A doctor can only treat on the basis of symptoms, if the symptoms suggest an ear infection, antibiotics are reasonable. The fact is that a proportion of middle ear infections will result in perforation anyway. Therefore unlikely to be negligent.

Surely your mate could just get an ear drum replacement? Unless he's damaged the bones in the ear too?

Yes it does. Read zeniths post again. It was apparently a recurring thing and antibiotics obviously weren't resolving the issue, therefore the doctors had a duty of care to investigate further and find the underlying cause. That they failed to do so is a result of Clinical Negligence.

 

[Tilda]

Yes it does. Read zeniths post again. It was apparently a recurring thing and antibiotics obviously weren't resolving the issue, therefore the doctors had a duty of care to investigate further and find the underlying cause. That they failed to do so is a result of Clinical Negligence.

What with being a qualified Clinical negligence solicitor I probabaly have got the wrong end of the stick, but there is no information about timescale and no background to lay the few facts we have over.

For example,

a 5 year history of recurrant ear ache and pain, with recurrent visits despite antibiotics, and a red inflamed ear drum - you might expect an ENT referral.

However, a 10 month history of ache, pain, and an inflammed ear drum might simply warrant more antibiotics.

Middle ear infections are very common, especially in the young, and so to are ear drum perforations due to it. While some doctors might refer to ENT for grommits to be inserted (these allow the middle ear to drain and dry out) these are a perforation in themselves and the time at which a doctor might refer will vary from patient to patient and in accordance with their individual symptoms, history and complaints.

They had their eustachian tube blocked, it built up the pressure in their ear until it blew out the eardrum. Because the docs didn't treat the cause, just the symptoms, it kept blowing until one time it blew out the tiny hearing bones as well. They're now profoundly deaf in that ear with the only possibility of hearing in the future being a cochlea implant.

A Eustation tube being blocked is a classic symptom of a middle ear infection and so you wouldn't expect this to be triggering "more investigations" by a GP. Similarly recurrent infections are common and so this is not really a sign for action either. Doctors have a duty of care yes, and in this case, I feel that most doctors would probably have ended up giving antibiotics another try unless there was something particularly unusual. You are correct to say that Doctors would typically investigate, recurrent middle/inner ear infections are common as muck and frequently recurrent, ear drum damage is also common. I'm curious about the "only" option now being a cochlear implant but we don't know enough about the diagnosis to really speculate here.

While I don't deny there are some interesting things going on here, none of it shouts out "negligence" at me as much as I can sympathise with his situation. However, as I've said, one short forum post doesn't give enough information to reach a reasonable conclusion anyway.

Doctors are fantastic people and I admire them hugely, but they are only human and can only do their best. Common things are common and bad things happen to patients despite a doctors best efforts, it doesn't mean its negligence.

 

[Wij]

My fingers are rarely out of my ears.

Unless they are in my nose.

 

[old.user4556]

My fingers are rarely out of my arse.

Fixed!

 

[Zenith.UK]

Ummm.... I kept it deliberately vague to help protect the person's identity. Given the timescale, I don't think clinical negligence is reasonable.
He first blew his ear out in the late 1950's. It kept going all through the 1960's until he was profoundly deaf in the left ear by 1970.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

My fingers are rarely out of my arse.

Unless they are in Big G's arse.

Really fixed, not fake fixed!

 

[SilverHood]

Heh, I had a perforated eardrum with a hole that wouldn't heal naturally. So they took skin from back of my ear and patched it up. Got some of my hearing back but not all of it.

 

[MYstIC G]

People have always warned me about using cotton buds (not least because you could get carried away and push it in too far but also because it's apparently not actually that effective at removing wax) but I have never listened. Touch wood nothing's gone wrong yet.

Don't, having had an ear bud fall apart in use and the tip dragged out with tweezers, this shit is uncomfortable.