Ear Perforation - help and advice needed!!

strummers

After 3 trips to medical establishments, being advised to have ears syringed, having ears syringed, then a further 2 trips to the 'experts', my other half has just had a perforated ear diagnosed (after telling them from the start that's what it was!).

Anyway, it's only 2 weeks to the PJ Euro gigs and he's worried about flying/going to gigs.

The people he spoke to after being diagnosed were pretty non-commital and said it 'should' be ok.

Does anyone have any advice?? Obviously he doesn't want to miss the shows and I don't want him to miss them either - but if there's any serious risk then obviously that wouldn't be good!

Thanks in advance for any info.

False_Belief

According to advice on the NHS website, he's got nothing to worry about:
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/2026.aspx?C ... goryID=174

strummers

SM286627 wrote:

According to advice on the NHS website, he's got nothing to worry about:
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/2026.aspx?C ... goryID=174

Thanks that's good news about the flying - just the loudness of the gigs to rule out now. I'm presuming that good earplugs should afford enough protection for him to go.

I thought both wouldn't be an issue as there wasn't a definite 'no' answer to the questions from the medical staff.

It would be a total gutter if we couldn't go to the gigs!

IamMine

strummers wrote:

SM286627 wrote:

According to advice on the NHS website, he's got nothing to worry about:
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/2026.aspx?C ... goryID=174

Thanks that's good news about the flying - just the loudness of the gigs to rule out now. I'm presuming that good earplugs should afford enough protection for him to go.

I thought both wouldn't be an issue as there wasn't a definite 'no' answer to the questions from the medical staff.

It would be a total gutter if we couldn't go to the gigs!

It's interesting to read that flying would cause less discomfort!

When we were in Tennessee on a family vacation, my hubby also ripped his eardrum in one ear and infection in another one when he dove in the pool.... it was very painful for him for the next 3 weeks and being deaf for 2 weeks. It was "funny" interpreting for him, instead of the other way around. :P

Now it's back to near normal.... but yeah, I would definitely get him the best kind of ear plugs for the shows - not worth the risk of causing more harm or long term effect when he's still healing.

regalturbo

I'm a medical internist (not specifically trained in Ear-Nose-Throat), but if you'd like my opinion:

There's practically no scientific data to say what could or couldn't happen. I'm assuming he has not had surgery (tympanoplasty) to repair the tear? If he had I'd be more careful to allow things to heal appropriately. 80% of ruptures heal on their own. I'd be more concerned about the flight than the shows. A good set of earplugs should be sufficient for the show(s). He'll have to be careful with ear pressure regarding the flight, but chewing gum or drinking fluids will help open up the ears to allow for pressure changes. There's certainly the risk of worsening the tear or opening it back up if it's healed, but I don't think the risk is very large and a new tear could also heal on its own. He'll want to avoid blowing his nose as well. Hope that helps!

strummers

regalturbo wrote:

I'm a medical internist (not specifically trained in Ear-Nose-Throat), but if you'd like my opinion:

There's practically no scientific data to say what could or couldn't happen. I'm assuming he has not had surgery (tympanoplasty) to repair the tear? If he had I'd be more careful to allow things to heal appropriately. 80% of ruptures heal on their own. I'd be more concerned about the flight than the shows. A good set of earplugs should be sufficient for the show(s). He'll have to be careful with ear pressure regarding the flight, but chewing gum or drinking fluids will help open up the ears to allow for pressure changes. There's certainly the risk of worsening the tear or opening it back up if it's healed, but I don't think the risk is very large and a new tear could also heal on its own. He'll want to avoid blowing his nose as well. Hope that helps!

Thank you so much for the advice - no he hasn't had surgery, we're hoping it'll heal by itself - the person who diagnosed it kept saying it was 'nice and smooth'. Will earplugs help with the flights or just the usual chewing/drinking? Just had the perforation diagnosed today (after a huge runaround see topic here: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=105525 ) and we have flights booked for 14th, 16th and 18th of August.

julesandian

Hi,

My wife had a gromit fitted to one of her ears on Wednesday last week, and as we have tickets to the upcoming UK gigs we were worried about the same thing. We asked the nurses and the doctor and they all said there was no problem with going to the gigs, in fact when she asked if there was anything she should be doing the doc said yes enjoy the show. They did not even suggest she wore plugs.

She has suffered with infections and perforated eardrums for about 15 years (diagnosed - all her life without!) and the only thing you need to worry is getting them wet. She says that she can't stress that enough water = pain!!

The noise should not make any difference to the tear, and as long as you keep it dry it should have healed by the time the gigs are on.

strummers

julesandian wrote:

Hi,

My wife had a gromit fitted to one of her ears on Wednesday last week, and as we have tickets to the upcoming UK gigs we were worried about the same thing. We asked the nurses and the doctor and they all said there was no problem with going to the gigs, in fact when she asked if there was anything she should be doing the doc said yes enjoy the show. They did not even suggest she wore plugs.

She has suffered with infections and perforated eardrums for about 15 years (diagnosed - all her life without!) and the only thing you need to worry is getting them wet. She says that she can't stress that enough water = pain!!

The noise should not make any difference to the tear, and as long as you keep it dry it should have healed by the time the gigs are on.

Thank you so much for that - it's a huge weight lifted!! We'd spent so much non-refundable money and on top of missing PJ themselves not being able to go would have been a huge let down as neither of us have found employment after redundancy and it is the one 'treat' we'd spent our settlement money on (the rest going on bills and there's not much of that left now :? )!!

julesandian

No probs,

We know where your coming from, back in 1995 I bought the mrs tickets to see Green Day, and literally 3 days before the gig her eardrum ripped, so we had to sell the tickets on.

Best of luck with job hunting, things will work out eventually I'm sure.

You've got to treat yourselves tho, cos lifes to short. We have two little ones, and the gig in 2007 at Wembley was the first time in 3 years we spent the night away from kids. Every once in a while you have to get oot and enjoy yourself.

strummers

julesandian wrote:

No probs,

We know where your coming from, back in 1995 I bought the mrs tickets to see Green Day, and literally 3 days before the gig her eardrum ripped, so we had to sell the tickets on.

Best of luck with job hunting, things will work out eventually I'm sure.

You've got to treat yourselves tho, cos lifes to short. We have two little ones, and the gig in 2007 at Wembley was the first time in 3 years we spent the night away from kids. Every once in a while you have to get oot and enjoy yourself.

Cheers - you're dead right!

regalturbo

strummers wrote:

Thank you so much for the advice - no he hasn't had surgery, we're hoping it'll heal by itself - the person who diagnosed it kept saying it was 'nice and smooth'. Will earplugs help with the flights or just the usual chewing/drinking? Just had the perforation diagnosed today (after a huge runaround see topic here: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=105525 ) and we have flights booked for 14th, 16th and 18th of August.

Earplugs would probably only help with the show, not the flight. True, you probably don't HAVE to wear earplugs at the show, but I'd err on the side of caution here. I've worn plugs to some (non-PJ) shows before, and it's not THAT bad, I could still hear the music fine.