Tympanoplasty Surgery

I worked in the ENT field for 12 years and I have heard of this happening often. I am sorry that this happened to your baby. I would get him help right away with therapy for his hearing while he is young and can adjust. I would also go for a second opinion and see if any malpractice played a factor.

J.

No surgery like that but my son and daughter had tubes with no problems. Once the tube fell out they could go back to normal swimming and bathing without the ear plugs with no hearing loss at all. My other daughter never had to have tubes, no problem with ear infections, but was apparently born with very little if any hearing in one ear, the other ear has normal hearing. I'm wondering what the Dr. has said. That should not have happened with just an ear drum patch I would think. My dad had a busted eardrum as a kid and no hearing loss in that ear. Did your son have fluid build up behind the repaired ear drum that could cause temporary hearing loss? My daughter's was inner ear and he wanted to do an MRI to see if it could be repaired but he really didn't think it could, just a last ditch effort that we decided not to do it since she was so little and my aunt had just had an allergic reaction during one. Looking back I wish we had gone ahead just in case. She is now 25, only had a little trouble in school because of the loss but nothing major. She self adjusted by turning her head when she didn't understand. Her IQ kept her from any special classes. She did everything the other kids did, even cheerleading. I might check another doctor (we did) just to see if they did something wrong or if it can be reversed.
K.

Hi,

The eardrum is only 3 layers of skin cells thick. Many people have tubes put in and the holes grow closed fine. I had tubes twice and didn't have a problem. But yes, sometimes surgery is needed to fix it, a patch is put in to aid the tissue to grow.
There have been many statements made about hearing test results in the responses. To better understand all the tests that are done and what you are being told at the doctor's office by the audiologist or tech, here is some info.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tympanogram
This measures the pressure behind the eardrum. It can be normal in a deaf person.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_tone_audiometry
This has a diagram of the ear. Please note, there is air conduction and bone conduction. A hole in the eardrum would affect air conduction. Air conduction is how the whole ear is working. Bone conduction shows how the nerve works. Bone conduction shows the potential. Air conduction shows the real situation. A person could have a hole in their ear and have normal hearing. It depends where the hole is in the ear drum and how big it is.

About your son's hearing test from March 11, what test showed no hearing in that ear? Was it bone or air conduction? Or was it tympanogram which is how the eardrum moves at different pressure and shows if there is negative pressure or fluid behind the eardrum.

Others have pointed out the flaw of a hearing test when the person giving the test gives clues of when they are presenting tones. That is why it is important that an audiologist be the one doing the tests.

Calcium deposits on the bones of the middle ear is a different condition not related to a hole in the eardrum. The formation of deposits on the bones in the middle ear is a disease that isn't usually found in young children. It is more common in adults and can run in families.

Hi M.,

I had this procedure done when I was 10. I'd had tubes at 7 and the hole had never closed up. During those three years I had numerous infections and I lost hearing, but I'm not sure which (or both) to credit it to. My loss was closer to around 40-45%. I know that this isn't the same as losing it all, but I thought that you'd like to hear someone's similar story. What has your doctor said about it?

L.

I am 55 and have had the surgery twice, one at age 9 and the other after college. I too have a hearing loss. During the 2nd surgery they found that the little bones had calcium deposits and were not moving...causing the hearing loss. They removed the calcium and my hearing returned.....but once again my hearing has gone. I have lived with my this most of my life and do just fine.....some people don't even know I can't hear! I read lips!
I suggest finding the best doctor possible and re-evaluate.

He'll be fine, but it can effect his school work.

This is scaring me a bit, as my oldest just had her eardrum patched for the same reason (although she had a graft done, not a paper patch). She's going in for a checkup on Monday to see how it's healing and will have her hearing checked a few weeks after that. And, it has been recommended that my 2nd have tubes...I'm re-thinking having that done, due to the problems with #1. Thanks for bringing this issue up, M., and best of luck!

Never heard of that. Usually when tubes are put in the ear they fall out on their own. Wow. You need to get him to that children's hospital in Ft Worth. A major surgery like that is why I don't trust doctors in this town. You should have asked the doctor how many of these have you done. One doctor messed my cousins arms up so bad she is disabled. Good luck and I'll pray for you.

Kids - no. I had this done twice. The last time was when I was in college. I've always had a hearing loss but I did not lose total hearing when I had it done. They were hoping that doing this would improve my hearing, but it did not. What does your doctor say about it? That is not normal. Just by patching the ear drum, there should be no hearing loss at all. I wonder if they must have accidentally hit the bone and caused issues?

M.,

First, I want to say that I am so sorry that this has happened. It must be devastatig for you. I will keep you and your son in my prayers.

Now for our experience with this surgery. My son developed his first ear infection when he was 6 months old. After it never fully going away during the next year and a half, he had his first set of tubes at 2 years old and his second at 3 years old. Even those did not help one iota with the infectins. He still got ear infections regularly and blew the tubes out rather quickly. We changed doctors and on our first visit the new doctor found that my son only had 10% remaining of his left drum and also had a hole in his right drum. We also discovered that he did not hear with the eardrum (because it wasn't there), but with the bones in the ear. His hearing was diminished (and always will be), but better than they had expected. We had a graft done on the drum (not the paper). The graft took, but he blew a hole in the drum again. We are currently waiting for him to get through his coming pre-teen growth spurt and we will do the surgery again. In the meantime, he can get NO water in his ears or it can cause him to go permanently deaf in that ear.

Now, I am wondering how long they waited after the surgery to do the hearing test. My son had a different kind of Tympanoplasty where the doctor cut the back of his ear and laid it over out of the way. My son had so much packing he could not have heard a thing with that ear if his life depended on it. Another thing to consider is that the ear is in a bit of shock from the surgery.

I do not know who the doctor was that you used, but I love Dr. Mark Brown with Central Park ENT in Arlington. He is fabulous. He listens to me and realizes that although his specialty is the ears, nose and throat, my specialty is my children and I know them and their "quirks" better than anyone else. He also repects my opinions as a mother. When I went to him with my daughter, I really went to see if I was right or not. She has extremely large tonsils and he agreed that they will have to be removed. He agreed that at her age (barely over 2 years), it is not wise to do them yet because she is not old enough to understand the need to be calm and sedate. He said it would go from being a few hours in the hospital to a week or two at her age. He is a parent and just a very nice man. If you have any questions, even if they do not pertain to that particular visit, he will answer them.

Again, I will keep you and your son in my prayers and thoughts. I do hope that this is a temporary thing and his hearing is restored completely.

I had a graph done over 25 years ago. I went from being deaf to able to hear a whisper. My hole was also caused from having tubes put in my ears. I still have a hole in one ear but have never wanted to go thru the pain of surgery again. The doctor I used was a leading teacher in the field.
Also how was his hearing test administered? Even though I was completely deaf I could still pass a hearing test with flying colors! I didn't know I couldn't hear. I watched the person giving the test to me and would raise the hand that corresponed with the direction she turned the dial. I read lips and people just thought I had a speech problem when I spoke.