Ear Diseases:
A few common Ear conditions are illustrated below..
Wax
Wax is a very common condition. It is the collection of the cerumen secreted by the ceruminous glands in the external auditory canal.It gets mixed with the dust and other contaminants to form the wax. It has to be cleaned regularly from an ENT surgeon to avoid a condition called impacted wax.
Ear Diseases:
A few common Ear conditions are illustrated below..
Myringitis
Myringitis is an inflammatory condition of the tympanic membrane. There may be some discharge from the ears and also some pain. This is usually viral condition and subsides on its own. Sometimes it may be due to other causes also. The tympanic membrane shows a granular appearance. The treatment lies in giving antibiotic ear drops, local analgesic ear drops ,
systemic analgesics. Cure is most of the time complete with conservative management.
Otitis Externa
Otitis Externa is an inflammatory condition of the
external ear canal. It can be due to trauma, picking of ear canal, wax, oto- mycosis , furunculosis etc. It is very painfull condition and the patient also suffers from deafness. Treatment lies ijn giving proper antibiotics, decongestants, pain-killers, treating the cause, and decreasing the swelling of ear canal. The causative factor must be confirmed by oto-endoscopy by an ENT surgeon.
Otitis media
Chronic otitis media is a condition where the ears are chronically discharging and there is an associated tympanic membrane perforation of varying size. There may also be damage to the ear ossicles leading to hearing loss. The treatment lies in endoscopic evaluation of the status of middle ear and doing necessary ossiculoplasty with correction of the
drum perforation. By the help of endoscopic surgeries there is minimal postoperative stay and recovery period and very minimal incision and scar.
Otomycosis
Oto-mycosis is a fungal growth in the ears.It is an
extremely painfull condition. It is also associated with severe itching of the ears. Most of the times the patient first goes to a general practiotioner and the condition is not diagnosed and is treated as per any other infection of the ear and the symptoms dont regress. The condition is diagnosed definitively only after an oto-endoscopic imaging. The treatment of this condition lies thorough cleaning of the ear and giving local antifungal drops, analgesics and follow up.
Cholesteatoma
Cholesteatoma is a relatively dangerous condition of the ear.It occurs as aresult of loss of the self cleansing property of the tympanic membrane epithelium.It results in collection of the desquamated epithelium inthe middle ear either by way of perforated drum or a retraction pocket bin the ear drum.It behaves like a tumour and has bone eroding properties. Any chronic otitis media can get converted into a cholesteatoma. It can involve the brain, the inner ear, the mastoid and can be fatal. The treatment lies in early diagnosis by an ENT surgeon and thorough debridement of the ear necessary ossiculoplasty in some cases.
Traumatic Perforation Of Tympanic Membrane
Traumatic tympanic membrane perforation can be due to blow, instrumentation, noise trauma, pressure trauma. traumatic perforations are typically sharp edged, they have a very good healing property and usually heal completely within 21 days. If there is haemo-tympanum then there are chances of temporory deafness . There can be occasionally ossicular bone discontuinuity. Therefore a proper oto-endoscopic check-up and testing the hearing level by a computerized audiometry by an ENT surgeon is a must.
Deafness
Deafness can be either conductive i.e. due to middle
ear conductive mechanism faults or sensorineural i.e. due to damage to the neural pathway or mixed. There are more than 100 causative factors for deafness. The deafness once starts uasually is progressive. Therefore one should always consult an ENT surgeon for knowing the cause of the daefness and also to know the exact hearing levels by the means of a computerized audiometer. Most of the deafness can be treated if of a conductive type by surgeries. The cochlear type of deafness can be cured by cochlear implant.The cochlear implant is an electronic device which has rfevolutionized the treatment of deaf by birth and deafness due to age i.e.presbyacusis.
Otosclerosis
Otosclerosis a rare condition which usually affects both the ears . There is fixation of the stapes bone to the oval window. The stapes movement is required for hearing. Therefore in this condition the patient has varied levels of hearing loss. The tympanic membrane looks completely normal in the early and later stages except in the active stages when it shows a pinkish tint called as a flamingo pink tint. The treatment lies in replacing the stapes by an artificial prosthesis. This procedure is minimally invasive and has no scars or incisions. The hearing level reaches near normal after this procedure. Sometimes hearing aids are prescribed instead of surgery.
Cancers
Cancers of the ear can be either of the
external ear, middle ear, or the inner ear. Most of the cancers of the aer are slow growing. If diagnozed early they can be treated with a good survival rate.
Acoustic neuroma is one of the common tumour of the 8th nerve. It leads to tinnitus, deafness and rarely giddiness. Earlier the diagnosis better the
treatment rates and survival rates. So, if you have any of the above complains, consult your doctor immediately.
Senses:ENT & Facial Plastic Surgery Centre
Senses:ENT & Facial Plastic Surgery Centre,
2nd Floor, Satyam Arcade,
Next to Hotel Hyatt,
Ramwadi, NagarRoad,
Pune,Maharashtra,India,Ph:91-20-30429314
2nd Floor, Satyam Arcade,
Next to Hotel Hyatt,
Ramwadi, NagarRoad,
Pune,Maharashtra,India,Ph:91-20-30429314
