Tympanoplasty, or eardrum repair, is a surgery typically performed on children to repair a defect in the part of the ear called the tympanic membrane. The surgeon places a graft inside the eardrum to improve their hearing.
Your eardrum is a thin tissue layer inside the ear. It vibrates when sound waves touch it. It may get ruptured or damaged due to a disease or injury. A tympanoplasty helps reverse this so you can hear better.
What is Tympanoplasty?
Tympanoplasty is a surgery to improve hearing and protect your inner ear.
A tympanoplasty is required when there's a perforation or hole in your eardrum that does not close itself. This hole decreases your hearing quality and may allow water to get into the middle ear. When the surgeon closes this hole, your hearing improves.
It also prevents the entry of water into the middle ear during showering and swimming.
Why Is Tympanoplasty Done?
Children (most typically) may get a hole in the eardrum due to:
- Ear infections that cause damage to the eardrum
- Cholesteatoma, a condition in which there's growth behind or within the eardrum
- Injury, such as an eardrum puncture due to cotton swab use
- Ear tubes or tympanostomy tubes (small plastic or metal tubes put in your child’s ear by doctors to reduce the likelihood of ear infections by allowing the drainage of pus and fluids) falling out
In most instances, the eardrum heals itself, so there's no need for surgery. But if the hole does not close on its own, surgical repair of the eardrum is required.
How Is Tympanoplasty Done?
Before the surgery, which will be performed by an ear, nose, and throat specialist, you will have to undergo a hearing test. The doctor will also conduct a hearing test a few months after the surgery to determine how much your hearing improved.
Your doctor will tell you what you can eat or drink in the time leading to surgery.
On the day you're having surgery, your stomach should be empty.
An anesthesiologist will give you general anesthesia so you are asleep during the procedure.
Then, the surgeon will patch up the hole in the eardrum with a graft. The graft may be made using artificial material, or the doctor may take this tissue from the area around the ear.
The doctor will end the procedure by packing sterile material on top of the graft to keep it in place. This material dissolves with time.
The process can take anywhere from half an hour to 2 hours.
What Is Tympanoplasty Recovery Like?
Your doctor will give instructions about activities you can and cannot do. For example, they will recommend against blowing your nose or swimming.
They may also give you ear drops to put in your ears for a certain period.
After the surgery, you may have symptoms, such as the ear feeling full, mild ear pain or blood draining from the ear.
During the tympanoplasty recovery period, your ears may feel stuffy. You may also feel they are blocked. Some people have trouble hearing correctly for the first few days after the surgery.
It gets better with time as the eardrum starts to heal. Usually, the packing material dissolves itself in a few weeks. The doctor will take out any remaining packing material from your ear when you go for your post-operative visit two to three weeks after the surgery.
The stitches dissolve themselves. Sometimes, the doctor will take them out.
What Should I Expect After Tympanoplasty?
About 8-12 weeks after surgery, you’ll go for another hearing test. The doctor will compare these results with the hearing test done before the surgery to check your hearing progress.
While your eardrum is healing, you should:
- Avoid swimming or doing any activity that could get water into your ear.
- Rest whenever you feel tired. The more sleep you get, the sooner you will recover.
- Avoid moving your head suddenly. You should also avoid bending for the first few days after the surgery, as it may make you feel dizzy.
Speak to your doctor if you are experiencing any unusual symptoms.