Be careful! Don't hurt the "membrane" hidden deep in the ear

The public's understanding of the ear is often limited to the pinna and ear eyes on both sides of the head, in fact, there are many other important structures in the ear eye, such as the deepest part of the ear eye is the eardrum, which is what we often call the eardrum.

The eardrums are as thin as cicada wings, about the size of a coin, and are used to close the depths of the ear eye, separating the external ear canal from the middle ear. The main role of the eardrum is to transmit sound, and the external sound entering the inner ear through the external ear canal depends on the vibration of the eardrum. The vibrations cause the auditory bone chain behind the eardrum to vibrate, which transmits sound to the inner ear. In addition, the eardrum prevents water, foreign objects, etc. from entering the middle ear from the ear eye.

Although hidden deep in the ear and eye, the eardrum will still be affected by some factors, that is, the eardrum perforation. These factors include slaps, ear water, foreign body invasion, middle ear infections, middle ear tumors, etc.

What are the dangers of eardrum perforation

First of all, the role of the eardrum is to transmit sound. Eardrums are broken, and in most cases it causes hearing loss.

Secondly, eardrum perforation is equivalent to the door and window of the home broken, if not repaired in time, there will be dust and debris flying in in the short term. Although this will not cause a big impact, if you encounter bad weather such as wind and rain, rain will invade, and the floor and furniture will be easily damaged. Damage to the middle inner ear can further exacerbate hearing loss, cause tinnitus, and even form a cholesteamma, causing irreversible damage. The longer the piercing time, the greater the damage.

Finally, the perforation of the eardrum leads to the disappearance of the moist and warm environment of the mucosa of the middle ear, so that the mucosa is directly exposed to the external environment, the resistance is greatly reduced, and it is easy to secondary repeated middle ear infections, which will aggravate the damage to the structure of the inner ear of the middle ear.

Eardrum perforation can be repaired on its own in most cases

After the eardrum perforation, it must be disposed of in time, and the acute perforation can be clinically observed for three months to see if it can repair itself. In most cases, eardrum perforation can be repaired by itself if it is properly handled, although sometimes the degree of repair is not perfect, but it can still protect the middle ear from repeated infections, resulting in damage to the structure of the middle ear and the inner ear, and continuous hearing loss.

After more than three months, the chance of perforation of the eardrum healing on its own is greatly reduced, at which point an eardrum repair surgery is required by an otologist. At present, eardrum repair surgery is already a minimally invasive operation, basically no incision, after the operation can be freely moved and normal work. Surgery to remove the auricular cartilage or cartilage to repair the eardrum, endoscopically performed. There is almost no pain sensation after surgery, and the success rate is also very high.

The only limitation is that the procedure must be performed under general anesthesia due to the inability to determine the patient's fit. For patients who are highly cooperative, it is completely possible under local anesthesia.

Author: Han Chao (The author is chief physician of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Huadong Hospital, Fudan University)

Editor: Zhang Peng

Image source: Visual China