Your hearing may improve right away. But often it takes about 2 to 4 weeks to notice a difference. Hearing often continues to improve in the 2 months after surgery. While you are healing, it's important to avoid getting water in your ear.
Your ears may be very sensitive to noise at first. Try to avoid places that are very noisy. This care sheet gives you a general idea about how long it will take for you to recover. But each person recovers at a different pace. Follow the steps below to get better as quickly as possible. Follow-up care is a key part of your treatment and safety.
Be sure to make and go to all appointments, and call your doctor or nurse call line if you are having problems. It's also a good idea to know your test results and keep a list of the medicines you take. Call anytime you think you may need emergency care. For example, call if:. Call your doctor or nurse call line now or seek immediate medical care if:. Watch closely for changes in your health, and be sure to contact your doctor or nurse call line if:. Author: Healthwise Staff. Care instructions adapted under license by your healthcare professional.
If you have questions about a medical condition or this instruction, always ask your healthcare professional. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information.
Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated. It looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. Please turn on JavaScript and try again. Important Phone Numbers. Topic Contents Your Recovery How can you care for yourself at home? Otosclerosis is a common cause of hearing loss.
It is caused by a problem with the tiny bones ossicles which transmit vibrations through the middle ear so we can hear sound.
Usually both ears are affected in otosclerosis but sometimes only one ear is affected. Nobody actually knows why otosclerosis happens.
However, what is known is that otosclerosis is not caused or worsened by listening to loud music or working in a loud environment. Otosclerosis happens because there is abnormal bone formation in one of the tiny bones in the middle ear.
It is not clear why this happens but it is likely to be caused by a combination of various factors:. Hearing loss is the main symptom of otosclerosis. The hearing loss may remain mild but commonly it gradually becomes worse.
It usually affects both ears, but not always. In some people the hearing loss stays mild for a number of years before getting worse. In others the hearing loss quickly becomes worse. Without treatment, in time, the affected ears often become totally deaf. The hearing loss is usually of lower sounds, whereas age-related hearing loss has more effect on higher-pitched sounds.
If you have otosclerosis, you may speak unusually quietly. The effect of otosclerosis on your ears is to make your own voice sound loud to you. Paracusis is also common. If you have this, you can hear better when there is a lot of background noise. This may be because other people raise their voices in noisy places.
Tinnitus is an abnormal noise which you hear but which seems not to come from outside your ear. It occurs in about 4 in 5 people with otosclerosis. Noises heard include ringing, whistles, roaring, machine-type noises, etc. Tinnitus tends to worsen as hearing loss worsens. Vertigo is a condition where problems with dizziness and balance are experienced.
This condition develops in some people with otosclerosis, although it is less common. It occurs when the balance mechanism in the inner ear the semicircular canals is affected.
Bone is a living tissue and contains cells that make, mould and take back up resorb bone. Normally bone is continually being broken down and re-modelled. In otosclerosis, it seems that the re-modelling process of the stirrup stapes - one of the tiny bony ossicles in the middle ear - becomes faulty.
New bone is not made properly and abnormal bone forms. However, the reason why this occurs mainly in the stapes and sometimes the cochlea is not entirely clear. Hereditary genetic factors seem to be important because a tendency for otosclerosis can be inherited.
About 2 out of every 3 people with otosclerosis have other family members who also have this condition. However, some people with otosclerosis have no family history.
It is also thought that a virus may play a part and the measles virus has been suggested. This is one of several reasons why surgical hearing loss reconstruction may be necessary to restore hearing capabilities.
When an obstruction or deformity of the external ear canal is responsible for hearing loss, canalplasty may be performed. The procedure can involve widening the ear canal, removal of the obstruction, or creation of a new ear canal.
A CT scan is done to determine if the anatomy of the affected ear will allow for surgical correction of the problem. If a perforated eardrum does not heal on its own or if the damage is severe, the eardrum may be repaired with tympanoplasty.
Graft material from cartilage or muscle is used to reconstruct and restore the normal appearance and function of the eardrum. Hearing loss from otosclerosis results from abnormal growth of a bone near the middle ear.
During the procedure, which has a success rate of more than 90 percent, a laser is used to connect two of the middle ear bones to the inner ear.
Patients with a rare congenital condition called microtia, an external ear deformity, sometimes have related inner ear deficiencies atresia that can affect hearing. Sound vibrations enter the ear canal and cause the eardrum to vibrate.
Movements of the eardrum are transmitted across the middle ear to the inner ear fluids by three small ear bones. These middle ear bones hammer or maleus, anvil or incus and stirrup or stapes act as a transformer changing sound vibrations in air into fluid waves in the inner ear.
The fluid waves stimulate delicate nerve endings in the hearing canals. Electrical impulses are transmitted on the nerve to the brain where they are interpreted as understandable sound. The external ear and the middle ear conduct sound; the inner ear receives it. If there is some difficulty in the external or middle ear, a conductive hearing impairment occurs. If the trouble lies in the inner ear, a sensorineural or nerve hearing impairment is the result.
When there is difficulty in both the middle and the inner ear a mixed or combined impairment exists. Mixed impairments are common in otosclerosis. If we had been able to examine your middle ear under the microscope before a hearing impairment developed we could have seen minute areas of both softening and hardening of the bone.
This process may spread to the stapes, the inner ear, or to both sides. When otosclerosis spreads to the inner ear a sensorineural hearing impairment may result due to interference with the nerve function.
This nerve impairment is called cochlear otosclerosis and one it develops it may be permanent. On occasion the otosclerosis may spread to the balance canals and may cause episodes of unsteadiness. Usually otosclerosis spreads to the stapes or stirrup none, the final link in the middle ear transformer chain.
The stapes rests in the small groove, the oval window, in intimate contact with the inner ear fluids. Anything that interferes with its motion results in a conductive hearing impairment.
This type of impairment is called stapedial otosclerosis and is usually correctable by surgery. The amount of hearing loss due to involvement of the stapes and the degree of nerve impairment present can be determined only by audiometric examination hearing tests. There is no local treatment to the ear itself or any medication that will improve the hearing in persons with otosclerosis. In some cases a nutritional supplement containing fluoride may be prescribed to slow or stop the loss of hearing.
The supplement should not be taken by young children or pregnant women. For patients who are not surgical candidates or do not wish to have surgery, a hearing aid or hearing aids may be an alternative. The stapes operation stapedectomy is recommended for patients with otosclerosis who are candidates for surgery. This operation is usually performed under local anesthesia and requires but a short period of hospitalization and convalescence.
Over 90 percent of these operations are successful in restoring the hearing permanently. Stapedectomy or stapedotomy is performed though the ear canal under local or general anesthesia. A samll incision may be made behind the ear to remove muscle or fat tissue for use in the operation. With the use of the operating microscope the eardrum is elevated and turned forward.
The hearing bones are palpated and the diagnosis of otosclerosis of the stapes is confirmed.
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