What are the treatments for eardrum perforation?

The eardrum is very important for the hearing of the ear. If there is a problem with the eardrum, it will easily cause a great impact on the hearing, or even deafness. Eardrum perforation is a common disease. It is very harmful to the health of the ear. There are many ways to treat eardrum perforation. You can take medication for treatment, and you can take some anti-inflammatory and antibacterial drugs. If the condition is serious, you can undergo surgery. Surgical treatment of eardrum perforation can easily lead to sequelae and needs to be performed with caution. What are the treatments for a perforated eardrum?

What to do if your eardrum is perforated

1. Drug treatment. Generally, drug therapy mainly aims to reduce the size of the perforation through antibacterial, pus drainage and swelling reduction. However, it is difficult to achieve the healing of the perforation with drug treatment alone, and it is very easy to relapse.

2. Traditional surgical treatment requires making an incision inside or behind the ear and taking autologous tissue and implanting it in the eardrum. Patients using this treatment are very prone to postoperative bleeding and are also prone to sequelae.

3. If the patient's eardrum is perforated due to trauma and there is no infection, the ear canal can be plugged with a sterilized cotton ball and antibiotics can be used to prevent infection. However, it should be noted that local ear drops are not used.

4. If there is pus discharge from the middle ear due to inflammation, anti-inflammatory treatment should be given. In the acute stage, systemic antibiotics should be used, and local chloramphenicol ear drops or ofloxacin ear drops should be used for ear baths.

5. If cholesteatoma is formed, surgical treatment is required as soon as possible.

Medical treatment of tympanic membrane perforation

1. If there is external ear pus in the middle ear, anti-inflammatory treatment should be given. In the acute stage, oral antibiotics should be taken and local 2.5% chloramphenicol ear drops or 0.3% ofloxacin ear drops should be used for ear bath.

2. If the perforation of the eardrum is caused by trauma and there is no infection, use a sterilized dry cotton ball to plug the ear canal and it may heal on its own.

If the tympanic membrane perforation has not healed after 2 to 3 months of treatment, a specialist examination is required and, if necessary, tympanoplasty is performed to improve hearing.

3. If the eardrum perforation has not healed after 2 to 3 months of treatment (1 month for traumatic perforation), a specialist examination (including otoscopy, hearing, nasal cavity, nasopharynx, and Eustachian tube function examination) is required. If conditions permit, tympanoplasty can be performed to preserve or improve hearing.

4. For patients with long-term uncured otitis media or granulation growth, or marginal perforation in the flaccid or tense part of the tympanic membrane, X-rays or CT scans should be performed to clarify the nature and extent of the lesions, and surgery should be performed to remove the lesions first to obtain a dry ear, and then tympanoplasty can be performed selectively according to the conditions. Traumatic perforation may heal on its own. If it does not heal after 1 to 2 months, surgical treatment can still be performed according to the above conditions.

If infection occurs and causes suppurative otitis media, it should be treated as otitis media. When a perforated eardrum fails to heal, doctors often use the following methods to treat it:

(1) Burning patch method

Use 30% silver nitrate or 50% trichloroacetic acid to burn the edge of the perforation to make it a fresh wound, and then apply a thin sheet, such as plastic film or garlic film. The new tissue will grow along the patch toward the center and it usually heals in a few weeks.

(2) Stimulation therapy

Scrape the epithelium at the edge of the perforation to promote tissue regeneration, and then drip 5% urea boric acid solution to accelerate repair.