Tympanoplasty is reconstructive
surgerySurgery is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, to help improve bodily function or appearance, or sometimes for some other reason...
for the tympanic membrane, or eardrum.
There are several options for treating a perforated eardrum. If the perforation is from recent trauma, many
ENTOtolaryngology or ENT is the branch of medicine that specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of ear, nose, throat, and head and neck disorders. The full name of the specialty is otolaryngology-head and neck surgery. Practitioners are called otolaryngologists-head and neck surgeons, or sometimes...
s will elect to watch and see if it heals on its own. After that, surgery may be considered. Tympanoplasty can be performed through the
ear canalThe ear canal , is a tube running from the outer ear to the middle ear. The human ear canal extends from the pinna to the eardrum and is about 26 mm in length and 7 mm in diameter.- Structure:...
or through an incision behind the ear. The surgeon takes a graft from the tissues under the skin around the ear and uses it to reconstruct the eardrum.
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Tympanoplasty is reconstructive
surgerySurgery is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, to help improve bodily function or appearance, or sometimes for some other reason...
for the tympanic membrane, or eardrum.
There are several options for treating a perforated eardrum. If the perforation is from recent trauma, many
ENTOtolaryngology or ENT is the branch of medicine that specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of ear, nose, throat, and head and neck disorders. The full name of the specialty is otolaryngology-head and neck surgery. Practitioners are called otolaryngologists-head and neck surgeons, or sometimes...
s will elect to watch and see if it heals on its own. After that, surgery may be considered. Tympanoplasty can be performed through the
ear canalThe ear canal , is a tube running from the outer ear to the middle ear. The human ear canal extends from the pinna to the eardrum and is about 26 mm in length and 7 mm in diameter.- Structure:...
or through an incision behind the ear. The surgeon takes a graft from the tissues under the skin around the ear and uses it to reconstruct the eardrum. One of the most common graft sites is from the tragus. The surgery takes ½ to 1 hour if done through the ear canal and 2⅓ to 3 hours if an incision is needed. It is done under
localLocal anesthesia is any technique to render part of the body insensitive to pain without affecting consciousness. It allows patients to undergo surgical and dental procedures with reduced pain and distress. In many situations, such as cesarean section, it is safer and therefore superior to...
or general anesthesia. It is done on an outpatient basis and is successful 85-90% of the time.
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