Eardrum Surgery

Repair of the eardrum can vary according to the size and cause of the tear. If the perforation of the eardrum is small, the hole may repair and close itself; in this case no treatment is needed.

In cases where the eardrum perforation cannot close on its own, eardrum surgery is performed. In these surgeries, no artificial membrane is used; the repair is made with a graft prepared from the person's own body — from the membrane over the muscle behind the ear or from the cartilage tissue in front of the external ear canal. My most preferred method is the one combining cartilage from in front of the external ear canal with the membrane, because it leaves no scar, has the highest success rate and is durable.

In eardrum tears, the absence of discharge from the eardrum before the operation is the most important criterion for success. Dry cases with no discharge and with conduction-type loss on hearing tests form the candidate patient group for eardrum repair.

In some patients, if the conduction-type loss is significant, there may be discontinuity, calcification or erosion in the ossicular system of the middle ear. This can only be diagnosed by viewing it with a microscope during the operation. The ossicles of the middle ear can be treated in the same session while the membrane is being repaired.