Tag Archives: Ear

Straight, No Chaser: Ruptured Eardrums

Head/Eyes/Ears/Nose/Throat, , , , , , , , , , ,

tmperf_c_dTMPerforation-2ndAOM

The manufacturers of Q-Tips used to run a commercial in which they said “Never place anything in your ear smaller than your elbow.”  I wonder why they stopped the commercial, because it pretty much summarizes how your physicians feel about the practice.
Perforated tympanic membranes (aka ruptured eardrums) are holes in the sheet-like tissue that separates the ear canal from the middle ear. They are not a lot of fun. Because the ear is responsible for both hearing and balance, rupture can cause decreases of both. Common symptoms include pain, decreased hearing and bleeding.
Several different things can causes this, including the following:

  • infections (otitis media)
  • a pressure imbalance between the two sides of the eardrum (if it becomes too severe, you’ll suffer what’s known as barotrauma), as seen in diving and air travel
  • direct trauma from placing objects in your ear (Put those cotton swabs and down!) or from a severe blow to the head/face
  • blast injuries (called acoustic trauma), caused by sudden, loud noises (e.g. explosions and gun shots; what’s actually happening here is a sound wave is damaging the ear drum)

Most tympanic membrane perforations heal spontaneously.  If the injury causing this was penetrating, your physician may refer you to an ear, nose, and throat specialist within 24 hours.  If this ever occurs, you must be careful to avoid getting water in the ear. Finally, you won’t typically receive antibiotics for a ruptured eardrum unless the rupture is due to infection or forceful water injury, such as is seen in water skiing.
Just remember: the ears have been cleaning themselves for at least thousands of years prior to cotton swabs. Chasing that itch isn’t worth the consequences of the pain of a ruptured eardrum.
Feel free to ask your SMA expert consultant any questions you may have on this topic.
Order your copy of Dr. Sterling’s new book Behind The Curtain: A Peek at Life from within the ER at jeffreysterlingbooks.com, iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and wherever books are sold.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) and 844-SMA-TALK offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, like us on Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and follow us on Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
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Straight, No Chaser: Ruptured Eardrums

Head/Eyes/Ears/Nose/Throat, , , , , , , , , ,

tmperf_c_dTMPerforation-2ndAOM

The manufacturers of Q-Tips used to run a commercial in which they said “Never place anything in your ear smaller than your elbow.”  I wonder why they stopped the commercial, because it pretty much summarizes how I feel about the situation.
Perforated tympanic membranes (aka ruptured eardrums) are holes in the sheet-like tissue that separates the ear canal from the middle ear. They are not a lot of fun. Because the ear is responsible for both hearing and balance, rupture can cause decreases of both. Common symptoms include pain, decreased hearing and bleeding.
Several different things can causes this, including the following:

  • infections (otitis media)
  • an imbalance between the two sides of the eardrum (if it becomes too severe, you’ll suffer what’s known as barotrauma), as seen in diving and air travel
  • direct trauma from placing objects in your ear (Put those cotton swabs and down!) or from a severe blow to the head/face
  • blast injuries (called acoustic trauma), caused by sudden, loud noises (e.g. explosions and gun shots; what’s actually happening here is a sound wave is damaging the ear drum)

Most tympanic membrane perforations heal spontaneously.  If the injury causing this was penetrating, your physician may refer you to an ear, nose, and throat specialist within 24 hours.  You must be careful to avoid getting water in the ear. You won’t typically receive antibiotics for a ruptured eardrum unless the rupture is due to infection or forceful water injury, such as is seen in water skiing.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) offers. Please share our page with your Friends on WordPress, and we can be found on Facebook at SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and on Twitter at @asksterlingmd.

Straight, No Chaser: Emergency Room Adventures – The Cauliflower Ear

Medical Treatment, Trauma, Head/Eyes/Ears/Nose/Throat, , , , , , , , , ,

So here I am again waiting for something interesting to walk in worthy of me telling you about, and lo and behold, a behemoth of a guy walks by. You know, one of those guys who works out way too much for it to be just about health. In any event, the nurse tells me the gentleman has ear pain, and she thinks it’s an infection. Well, that’s odd. Otitis media (middle ear infections) and otitis externa (external ear infections) usually happen in kids. So I get up to see him, and I see something that looks like an early version of Randy Couture’s ear… Randy-Couture-Cauliflower-Ear- …and I immediately think of you.
A ‘cauliflower ear’ is something you should be aware of because it’s easily obtained, and it has very bad consequences if not addressed in a timely manner. It’s a deformity of the ear (usually the upper outer portion) mostly caused by blunt trauma. It happens a lot to wrestlers, boxers, MMA fighters and rugby players, but it’s also seen in those with infected high ear-piercings. It occurs when the ear gets hit, causing a hematoma (collection of clotting blood) to form. The hematoma prevents normal flow of blood through the ear. The problem with this is the ear is made of cartilage (a less sturdy form of tissue) than bone. No blood flow and the presence of clots cause the cartilage to wilt and deform, giving the lumpy appearance shown in the picture. This can be treated with drainage of the blood and clot from the ear, but if it’s not done early enough, the ear will become permanently deformed.
If you have trauma or infection to the upper ear, be on the lookout for redness or swelling. Don’t ignore it like you might be inclined to do elsewhere. Get it evaluated promptly, even if it seems minor because… Time is tissue.
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