Hole in Ear Drum

[rb66102]

I am new to the site, and this question may have been asked before, but could not find my scenario, so here goes;

All my life I wanted to be a Scuba Diver, but was told that because I have a hole in my eardrum I cannot dive. Don't know how it happened and it has been there as long as I can remember. My doctor told me at one time that it could have possibly happened as a result of an ear infection that I had when I was younger, and did not address. So the hole has been there for years. I spoke to a surgeon at one time who said he could repair it through surgery, but I would have to take off work for six weeks for it to heal. I cannot afford to take off work for six weeks. Not even a couple of weeks. Are there any other options? Would something like the Pro-Ear Mask work for me? Is there a limit to how far down I could go now if I did dive; 10 ft., 20 ft., etc.etc. Even I I could have the surgery, would I be able to dive then? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Hi rb, DoctorMike can jump in here if I'm wrong, but I doubt you would be taking six weeks off of work for a simple tympanic membrane repair unless you work in a field where you're required to equalize your ears frequently. Are you sure that the physician didn't say you'd be completely healed in six weeks?

Best regards,
DDM

 

[rb66102]

Are you sure that the physician didn't say you'd be completely healed in six weeks?

It's been a couple of years, but I'm pretty sure he said I would be down for six weeks, unless I just misunderstood him. I am a Construction worker, so up and down ladders a few times a day. But other than that, no decompressing.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Hi rb, that may be worth verifying again with the physician's office. Maybe because of the field you work in, he/she was worried about you hitting your head and displacing a graft, but that's probably a reach and DoctorMike may have more accurate information. You can always send him a private message through Scubaboard, a notification will got to his email.

Best regards,
DDM

 

[doctormike]

Yup, what DDM said! Other than avoiding diving or flying during the healing process, there is certainly no reason why you should be off six weeks (or even six days) after a simple tympanoplasty.

There are a lot of details related to ear surgery, so those cases are never "standard", and the chance of healing has a lot to do with your underlying ear function, so not something that we can really comment on here.

I wouldn't rely on a device to completely seal the ear if cases of a tympanic membrane perforation. Feel free to PM me if you want to tell me where you are, I may be able to give you a local referral if you want a second opinion...

 

[RyanT]

Indeed, baring any complications, downtime after the surgery should be fairly minimal. As for the pro ear mask, or anything else like it, I would be REALLY nervous about using these devices. The primary reason being that things get knocked around underwater. In particular, if you are diving in colder water and then suddenly had the ear cup knocked loose, you would flood your external ear canal. The sudden change in temperature or pressure could generate some vertigo or at least some temporary feelings of disorientation. Also, the website says you can dry equalize your ears, but I'm not quite sure how that would work. I'd be a little worried about the lack of coupling to the external water pressure which could potentially make equalizing more difficult. You'd really be much better off seeking the advice of a physician who knows something about diving,having the eardrum repaired, and plan to dive normally.

 

[Skulmoski]

My wife is recovering from her third typanoplasty. She will be away from work for about 10 - 14 days. However, she had other related procedures done as well. Healing has taken her months. PM me if you want more details.

Good luck

GJS

 

[doctormike]

My wife is recovering from her third typanoplasty. She will be away from work for about 10 - 14 days. However, she had other related procedures done as well. Healing has taken her months. PM me if you want more details.

Good luck

GJS

Just to be clear, "tympanoplasty" is a non-specific term that covers a lot of different operations. A simple repair of an eardrum perforation (especially a small one, with something like a fat graft) shouldn't cause someone to be out of work for that long. This is especially true it is done transaurally (that is, without an incision behind the ear).

Anything involving drilling, cholesteatoma surgery, middle ear surgery, etc... makes it a very different operation.

 

[peeweediver]

rb:
Just went through ear drum perforation and healing. Read a ton, got great advice from this board, Dr. Mike, DAN docs and my ENT. Ear drum has healed and cleared to dive again, but under caution of very slow descent and ascent due to some remaining fluid in middle ear. I'd go slow from now on anyway.
What I learned:
1. Do not dive with a hole in your ear, even with any contraption you can think of.
2. Get another opinion as to down time post surgery. Nothing I read about an ear drum graft (don't think a paper patch will work, but not sure) indicated a 6 week down time. Seems way too long.
3. Ear drums usually heals very quickly. Mine healed in a week, but ENT wanted 6 weeks before diving just to be safe.

As they say, don't try this at home. See a professional.

Rob

 

[doctormike]

As with most things, the devil is in the details. Six weeks is the time that it takes for the graft to heal to the point that the eardrum is strong enough to resist reasonable pressure changes with flying and diving. That is not the same thing as time out of work, or "recovery" time (the time until the postoperative discomfort has resolved).

Again, one persons experience with "tympanoplasty" may be completely different from another's, based on what was actually done. If you ask me how long it takes to recover from tonsillectomy, the answer is 2 weeks. There is some variability there (there is a bell curve for everything), but it's a standard operation and everyone heals the same way. This isn't the case for tympanoplasty.

Interestingly, when you graft the tympanic membrane (with a paper patch, a fat graft, or a muscle lining fascia underlay graft), the graft itself doesn't become the new eardrum. The graft acts as a scaffolding for the eardrum to grow over. Usually, once healed, the "new" tympanic membrane is just as strong as the old one in terms of resistance to barotrauma (this varies from case to case, so ask your surgeon).