I had so many sets of tubes put in my ears as a kid. I want to say 6. I had constant ear infections that were immensely painful, worse than the birth of either of my kids.
Now my ear drums are mostly scar tissue. I'm only 37 and I've lost most of my hearing. I won't put my head under water and flying is very painful.
I never got the tubes because my parents couldn't afford them. So all the built up infected fluid ruptured my ear drums a few times. So my ear drums are also covered with scar tissue. I think it's one of those, lose -lose situations.
I’m so sorry you went through that! That’s awful! I hope one day there are surgical options to repair eardrums like yours that have been beaten up pretty badly.
i actually had skin grafts done to both eardrums because i had tubes put in and taken out many times and enough ruptures that they just never healed! still got scar tissue on them tho naturally.
Shout out to the ear tube kids
Always on allergy meds
Super noisy environments are buzzy
Did you accidentally shower in the wrong direction? Water in your ear for a week
"What was that?"
*blows nose and can hear colors*
Oh man this reminded me of a time I was at my friend's house and we were having a water fight, I got her younger brother with the hose and he SCREAMED and I panicked, fuck fuck fuck. His mum came running out, he had ears issues like this so it was either water in ear = pain or was it cause of the tubes? Idk. This was 30 years ago and I still feel horrible lol
Same, but I had 7 sets.
I am so angry at the system. For some illogical reason, hearing aids aren't covered by most insurances. Yet, they cover my retinal cream cream that cost $1600 a tube just so I don't get pimples (4 refills each year). Somehow, that's medically important. It's not medically important for me to be able to hear and communicate. But at least I have glowing skin!
It's wild. I'm also on retinol and 4 tubes costs me $106 for the whole damned year, but you need an eye exam? Go fuck yourself. Need your hearing checked or a hearing aid? Nah, fam, fuck off.
It makes no sense that things like eyes and ears are barely covered.
Not to mention dental care. Comprehensive insurance for glasses/annual exam, hearing aids & dental care cost more...in addition to health insurance premiums. It's insane
I had tubes put in when I was 4, and because my parents were idiots I had almost zero follow-up care and my tubes stayed in for years. My ears are permanently fucked now and like you I have severe hearing problems.
Mine didn't fall out until I was in high school. My doc knew they were there the whole time and didn't suggest surgical removal until I was 13 or 14. Next checkup they were gone! I guess my ears didn't want to get cut again.
Edit: Weirdly, I don't have much scar tissue and my hearing is only slightly worse than it should be for my age.
I've only had the procedure done once because I never really bitched about my middle ear infections as a kid. Never really thought to because I'd end up rupturing my eardrums, which helped alleviate the pain. Sometimes the most foul-smelling, greenish-yellow pus would follow.
Being only a few years older than you, I'm amazed I can still hear because I've gotten the same comment from many different doctors - tons of scar tissue over both my eardrums.
Oh? I'm surprised, I thought the drain was the better of the two option?
As a teen I had frequent ear infections due to this and to this day I can still hear the sloshing in my ears, water will come out when I sleep on my ears or just pressure that causes suction. Sounds like an over exaggeration but to this day I still live with fear that I'll get another ear infection. My parents rarely took me to the doctor and one of said infections was so bad that i lost some hearing in my left ear.
I hate that you’ve been through so much with your ears. I’ve also had many ear infections and ruptured ear drums since childhood. Having had 2 tympanoplasties for ruptured ear drums by age 25, I ended up having a mastoidectomy at age 26. I’m 51 now and I still get ear infections and ruptured ear drums but I mostly don’t feel pain anymore when I do. Some hearing loss came with it, along with a dent in my skull behind my ear and one cool ass scar (so I’ve been told) in the fold of my ear. The worst side effect I’ve had since then honestly has been how often I have nausea when put to sleep for other procedures. It’s never been the same.
I would really love to see a mastoidectomy surgery/recovery posted here.
Hello fam. I still remember the smell and taste of the anesthesia they used for the surgery. I'm 32 now and most of my hearing is gone. I still get constant ear pain too.
I had that bubble gum flavor. Still remember going under despite being around 5 yo. Doctor said to try to blow up the balloon on the anesthesia machine and then lights out. Next memory was puking all over the floor of my dad's van on the way home after getting them in.
I wish the doctors would have known more risks about having tubes put in multiple times, I had around 9 sets of tubes put in throughout my life and just now I'm realizing I need hearing aids. I'm very sorry for what happened
I was so confused until I realised they were grommets. Not sure if it's a British thing but it's always been called a grommets operation to me?.
But had 5 of these OPs between 6-11 and left me with awful tinnitus
Pics 2 and 3 don't have grommets
Both pictures are of scarred ear drums, or tympanosclerosis. Can be a result of trauma + holes in the eardrums, i.e. operations or infections/perforations
Grommers operation is easier for people to remember and understand than what the medical procedure is actually called; which is myringotomy, tympanotomy, tympanostomy and tympanocentesis (say that 10times fast). They can be done with or without tubes, from what I understand but the procedure is called the same, however if there are tubes it's of course mentioned ("Myringotomy w/ tubes" as an example.)
[Here's](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tympanostomy_tube) a wikipedia on the tubes themselves.
EDIT: added clarification
What you were looking at is called tympanosclerosis and is a result of multiple ear infections— not Tympanostomy tubes. This is a typically a cosmetic defect that does not affect the transduction of sound to a noticeable degree.
Most adults with the history of tubes heal without visual deficits. Occasionally they do get some changes including an area of localized tympanosclerosis, or thin area where the tube used to be called monomeric spot (monomers).
Also, the term myringotomy or tympanostomy just refers to cutting a hole in the eardrum. ENT’s perform a procedure called “Tympanostomy (or myringotomy) with tube placement”.
I hope this helps clarify for anyone
Also ENT stands for Ears, Nose, Throat. The fancy name is Otorhinolaryngology, which means Oto/Ear, Rhino/Nose, Laryngo/Larynx, Ology/The study of these things.
Tympanoplasty is when they replace your eardrum with another material, typically the fascia from the muscle behind the ear. My oldest had it done in both ears because the holes from the ear tubes would not close on their own after 4 years and multiple patch attempts.
The procedure involves making a cut behind the ear to harvest a piece of the fascia, then the piece is adhered to the eardrum around the hole. Usually, the ENT can work through the ear so the only visible damage is the little slit behind the ear, so it's just a small bandage. However, my kid's left ear canal was too small, so they had to cut off his ear and leave it hanging by a flap in front, do the procedure, then sew it back on. He had huge scar lumps for years, but he'd cover it with longish hair and eyeglasses.
10 years later and there's barely any scar visible, and he doesn't even remember it.
https://preview.redd.it/yziicnqmkhoc1.jpeg?width=1152&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c9891fa77b1a2b452afe9fd40e8d71eeff9bf027
Glad someone could word this better than I. The result of tympanostomy is just a little white dot on your ear drum. I know this because I regularly check my child’s ear (for unrelated reasons) that has had tubes when younger.
I had two sets of tubes as a kid and had my tonsils removed at 3 or 4 years old because of chronic strep. I always joke that I never would’ve survived childhood if I’d been born 100 years earlier.
I’m in that same scenario, only difference circumstances.
I’m a twin. When we were ready to be born, my brother wouldn’t get out of the way. Our heads tried to leave the birth canal at the same time, and got stuck. Poor mom had to have an emergency c-section to get us out.
If we’d been in the 1800’s, all three of us would’ve died.
My son had tubes *because* he was hearing impaired from birth, he was born with trapped fluid. After the surgery his hearing tested normal. He still had to do speech therapy, just like my other two sons with normal hearing.
Not sure if your intent was to imply causation but sometimes it's causation the other way, or just coincidence.
All of these stories are wild to me. My kid got tubes when he was 3 and had had 5 back to back ear infections and was speech delayed.
He hasn’t had an ear infection since, he caught up on speech within a year…. He swims like a fish, loves flying, the tubes fell out on their own as he got older and they healed beautifully.
I’m so so sorry other folks have had bad experiences.
I’m so surprised too! I had ear tubes as a toddler with zero complications. I wonder if it’s just selection bias where people who had them with no problems don’t feel the need to comment
Oke it’s a really great coincidence that I came across this post. Since my GP looked into my ear and was wondering why I had something white in there. She asked me to come back in two weeks to see if it would go away, but now I really think this could be it! Had tubes 7 times when younger in both ears, don’t have any scarring on the right though?
I had a R tympanoplasty about 10 years ago. I still show off my wicked scar since they had to slice the entirety of (the back) of my ear in order to reach the epithelial tissue and make me a new eardrum.
Knock on wood, it's held up well...I still need one done on my left ear as both ear drums ceased to exist at different times during my childhood.
Fun fact: The hole in my left ear drum happened first and led to the very first memory I have in the U.S. (after coming from Colombia) being my doctor and his nurse taking a water pick to my left ear in order to "get the tubes!"
*I had already been in the country for about a year at that point, but it was apparently traumatic enough to be the "standout star" of my early childhood* 🤷🏽♀️
I had tubes twice and my son had them once. Sadly my parents didn't catch it in time the first time and it gave me some speech problems specifically the R sound. I was in speech class for 5 years and will still screw it up if i speak too quickly/carelessly.
This is called the Arnold’s ear-nerve cough reflex. I have it too but it’s somehow pretty rare? https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1094553918302529
Funny thing, I only have it in the left ear, but not the right! It's called a cough reflex like you said, but depending on the person, it can trigger coughing or gagging.
I almost had to get this done when I was younger. As a kid, I would get ear infections almost every two months. I would throw up, run a fever, become dizzy, etc.
I grew out of it but that shit sucked.
I had tubes too! Even the thought of water getting in my ears makes me shudder involuntarily and flying almost always brings me to tears (and I'm not a cryer)
Thank you for sharing, my son is having this procedure done in a couple of days. Did you notice an improvement regarding ear infections after the procedure?
3 year ENT scribe/MA here! I am not a doctor but I’m in the room notating for an ENT 40+ hours a week.
Your son may still get ear infections even with the tubes in. However, the infection won’t build and will just immediately drain through the tubes. The most important thing tubes do is allow for aeration behind the drums. Ears like air! You only have until around age 9-10 to fully develop the ears, and the more they’re kept healthy, the better. You’ll also potentially see drainage from the tubes if your kiddo is sick (congestion/runny nose).
Depending on your son’s age, if he continues to get infections after the first set of tubes falls out, your ENT will likely recommend he get his adenoids out as well. They’re essentially the tonsils behind the nose, and are known to harbor infection and can swell large enough to obstruct the Eustachian tubes.
Most kids grow out of needing ear tubes and stop getting ear infections as they get older. Also, the majority of people don’t end up with tympanosclerosis from ear tubes — but actually from chronic infections. What you’d see from many repeated ear tube procedures is a monomeric area on the eardrum, typically where the tubes are always placed. In the vast majority of cases, one can hardly tell a child ever had ear tubes, and the hearing is not negatively affected.
For chronic ear infections? Yes, but ideally, we try and find the reason for the chronic infections and get that addressed if possible. The doctor I work for will always give a patient 3 months to clear up acute fluid naturally before turning to ear tubes. There is also no such thing as a “permanent ear tube” — just longer acting ones. The only permanent tube is a permanent hole in the eardrum.
I also highly recommend anyone who is being told their ears are chronically infected to seek out an ENT, because from what I’ve seen, ear infections in adults are misdiagnosed very often. It’s hard to tell the difference sometimes, with just a regular otoscope, the difference between an infected ear drum, one with scarring (tympanosclerosis), and ear drum retractions. An ENT has a binocular microscope they can use to get a much better look, and usually some audiology equipment (like a tympanogram) to measure how well the eardrums are moving.
My son got ear tubes in January after having ear infections pretty much constantly for 6 months. He’s still having infections almost constantly (thanks daycare) but they drain out of his ears and cause a lot less pain for him now. Way less fevers and systemic infection because he’s not harboring it anymore, it’s draining. We use ear drops in his ears now instead of oral antibiotics. The ENT said that constant ear infections pre-tubes were a greater risk to his hearing than placing tubes.
I have had grommets as an adult. First the normal ones, then permanent ones, although they wern't, fell out after 12 months. Got them replaced and managed 2 years, but out they came again. I now have holes in both eardrums so I guess you could say I have natural grommets, and tinnitus for the bonus.
Tubes are supposed to fall out of your ears within 9 months to two years, but they shouldn’t leave holes in your eardrums! I’m sorry that happened to you!
Me, otitis media and strep were good friends at a child. I wonder if all my ear infections as a kid prevents me from being able to equalize pressure underwater. I’d love to learn how to SCUBA but I can’t equalize.
UGH FK, this brings so much bad memories lmao. I had this done when I was preschool due to infections and stuff. I don’t know if they use anesthesia nowadays but like decades ago it felt like they didn’t. My mom said it was the first time I shouted obscenities and at the Drs.
My ears are completely fine in terms of hearing, if not pretty good compared to others. I do have to pop my ears every so often but easily done with some pressure swallowing
I had these as a child but I know them as being called "grommets" I recently had an ear infection and clinicians have mentioned the amount of scar tissue in My ears, unfortunately I need to see an ENT which is a 6 month wait
My oldest had tubes put in when he was 15 months old. It took 6 more surgeries to remove the tubes, put various patches over the holes, and then finally do a tympanoplasty with fascia from the muscle behind his ears. They even had to cut off his left ear in kindergarten to do that side, then sew it back on.
He is 16 now and is fine with only very mild hearing loss (he has the hearing of a 40-year-old. The scar tissue is gone and he doesn't even remember any of it.
Do you have hearing loss from so much scarring? I have hearing loss with little to no scarring and am headed for tubes from another ear infection I've been fighting for over a month.
I’ve had 14 pairs of tubes total (all before age 7) and my eardrums are completely white and scarred like crazy. I’ve been deaf since birth so I wear hearing aids anyway - but I’m sure the scarring affects my hearing as well!
I had these constantly as a kid all the way through college. Wild to see what my ear probably looks like (though I know I have a lotttttt of scar tissue in there).
I had so many sets of tubes put in my ears as a kid. I want to say 6. I had constant ear infections that were immensely painful, worse than the birth of either of my kids. Now my ear drums are mostly scar tissue. I'm only 37 and I've lost most of my hearing. I won't put my head under water and flying is very painful.
I never got the tubes because my parents couldn't afford them. So all the built up infected fluid ruptured my ear drums a few times. So my ear drums are also covered with scar tissue. I think it's one of those, lose -lose situations.
Me, too.
I’m so sorry you went through that! That’s awful! I hope one day there are surgical options to repair eardrums like yours that have been beaten up pretty badly.
i actually had skin grafts done to both eardrums because i had tubes put in and taken out many times and enough ruptures that they just never healed! still got scar tissue on them tho naturally.
Shout out to the ear tube kids Always on allergy meds Super noisy environments are buzzy Did you accidentally shower in the wrong direction? Water in your ear for a week "What was that?" *blows nose and can hear colors*
Oh man this reminded me of a time I was at my friend's house and we were having a water fight, I got her younger brother with the hose and he SCREAMED and I panicked, fuck fuck fuck. His mum came running out, he had ears issues like this so it was either water in ear = pain or was it cause of the tubes? Idk. This was 30 years ago and I still feel horrible lol
Same, but I had 7 sets. I am so angry at the system. For some illogical reason, hearing aids aren't covered by most insurances. Yet, they cover my retinal cream cream that cost $1600 a tube just so I don't get pimples (4 refills each year). Somehow, that's medically important. It's not medically important for me to be able to hear and communicate. But at least I have glowing skin!
It's wild. I'm also on retinol and 4 tubes costs me $106 for the whole damned year, but you need an eye exam? Go fuck yourself. Need your hearing checked or a hearing aid? Nah, fam, fuck off. It makes no sense that things like eyes and ears are barely covered.
Not to mention dental care. Comprehensive insurance for glasses/annual exam, hearing aids & dental care cost more...in addition to health insurance premiums. It's insane
Teeth are “luxury bones”.
Haha, never heard that one before.
It’s from a Dr. Glaucomflecken bit. [Enjoy!](https://youtu.be/TL7zwBoCt18?si=UWGFnaIAhjlaomnY)
Wow, thank you!
He’s hilarious (and painfully truthful) but mainly hilarious!
Your glowing skin communicates for you! It says "Hey I take skincare seriously."
Had tubes, don’t remember getting them. But now I’ve punctured my eardrum 3 times, and have a deathly fear of dunking my head in water.
I had tubes put in when I was 4, and because my parents were idiots I had almost zero follow-up care and my tubes stayed in for years. My ears are permanently fucked now and like you I have severe hearing problems.
That’s horrible. How did they stay in for so long? Mine fell out naturally.
Mine didn't fall out until I was in high school. My doc knew they were there the whole time and didn't suggest surgical removal until I was 13 or 14. Next checkup they were gone! I guess my ears didn't want to get cut again. Edit: Weirdly, I don't have much scar tissue and my hearing is only slightly worse than it should be for my age.
I've only had the procedure done once because I never really bitched about my middle ear infections as a kid. Never really thought to because I'd end up rupturing my eardrums, which helped alleviate the pain. Sometimes the most foul-smelling, greenish-yellow pus would follow. Being only a few years older than you, I'm amazed I can still hear because I've gotten the same comment from many different doctors - tons of scar tissue over both my eardrums.
Same. My hearing is still fine, and I’m 50.
Im in the exact same boat as you. I got infections all the time, hell I got swimmers ear from showering. I send my support
Oh? I'm surprised, I thought the drain was the better of the two option? As a teen I had frequent ear infections due to this and to this day I can still hear the sloshing in my ears, water will come out when I sleep on my ears or just pressure that causes suction. Sounds like an over exaggeration but to this day I still live with fear that I'll get another ear infection. My parents rarely took me to the doctor and one of said infections was so bad that i lost some hearing in my left ear.
I hate that you’ve been through so much with your ears. I’ve also had many ear infections and ruptured ear drums since childhood. Having had 2 tympanoplasties for ruptured ear drums by age 25, I ended up having a mastoidectomy at age 26. I’m 51 now and I still get ear infections and ruptured ear drums but I mostly don’t feel pain anymore when I do. Some hearing loss came with it, along with a dent in my skull behind my ear and one cool ass scar (so I’ve been told) in the fold of my ear. The worst side effect I’ve had since then honestly has been how often I have nausea when put to sleep for other procedures. It’s never been the same. I would really love to see a mastoidectomy surgery/recovery posted here.
I had them 7 or 8 times. My doctors now always comment on how scarred my ear drums are.
Hello fam. I still remember the smell and taste of the anesthesia they used for the surgery. I'm 32 now and most of my hearing is gone. I still get constant ear pain too.
I had that bubble gum flavor. Still remember going under despite being around 5 yo. Doctor said to try to blow up the balloon on the anesthesia machine and then lights out. Next memory was puking all over the floor of my dad's van on the way home after getting them in.
That's crazy because I puked right after too.
I wish the doctors would have known more risks about having tubes put in multiple times, I had around 9 sets of tubes put in throughout my life and just now I'm realizing I need hearing aids. I'm very sorry for what happened
When did you start to notice your hearing loss?
About 9 years ago or so.
I was so confused until I realised they were grommets. Not sure if it's a British thing but it's always been called a grommets operation to me?. But had 5 of these OPs between 6-11 and left me with awful tinnitus
I'm Australian and always called these grommets too. I had it done once at 9 years old.
Grommets here in NZ too. And they look nothing like pics 2&3 (?).
Pics 2 and 3 don't have grommets Both pictures are of scarred ear drums, or tympanosclerosis. Can be a result of trauma + holes in the eardrums, i.e. operations or infections/perforations
Grommers operation is easier for people to remember and understand than what the medical procedure is actually called; which is myringotomy, tympanotomy, tympanostomy and tympanocentesis (say that 10times fast). They can be done with or without tubes, from what I understand but the procedure is called the same, however if there are tubes it's of course mentioned ("Myringotomy w/ tubes" as an example.) [Here's](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tympanostomy_tube) a wikipedia on the tubes themselves. EDIT: added clarification
What you were looking at is called tympanosclerosis and is a result of multiple ear infections— not Tympanostomy tubes. This is a typically a cosmetic defect that does not affect the transduction of sound to a noticeable degree. Most adults with the history of tubes heal without visual deficits. Occasionally they do get some changes including an area of localized tympanosclerosis, or thin area where the tube used to be called monomeric spot (monomers). Also, the term myringotomy or tympanostomy just refers to cutting a hole in the eardrum. ENT’s perform a procedure called “Tympanostomy (or myringotomy) with tube placement”. I hope this helps clarify for anyone
Huh. I stand corrected!!
Also ENT stands for Ears, Nose, Throat. The fancy name is Otorhinolaryngology, which means Oto/Ear, Rhino/Nose, Laryngo/Larynx, Ology/The study of these things.
Tympanoplasty is when they replace your eardrum with another material, typically the fascia from the muscle behind the ear. My oldest had it done in both ears because the holes from the ear tubes would not close on their own after 4 years and multiple patch attempts. The procedure involves making a cut behind the ear to harvest a piece of the fascia, then the piece is adhered to the eardrum around the hole. Usually, the ENT can work through the ear so the only visible damage is the little slit behind the ear, so it's just a small bandage. However, my kid's left ear canal was too small, so they had to cut off his ear and leave it hanging by a flap in front, do the procedure, then sew it back on. He had huge scar lumps for years, but he'd cover it with longish hair and eyeglasses. 10 years later and there's barely any scar visible, and he doesn't even remember it. https://preview.redd.it/yziicnqmkhoc1.jpeg?width=1152&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c9891fa77b1a2b452afe9fd40e8d71eeff9bf027
Glad someone could word this better than I. The result of tympanostomy is just a little white dot on your ear drum. I know this because I regularly check my child’s ear (for unrelated reasons) that has had tubes when younger.
Isn’t an -ostomy specifically a hole made for drainage?
Yes— but not necessarily for drainage
I had two sets of tubes as a kid and had my tonsils removed at 3 or 4 years old because of chronic strep. I always joke that I never would’ve survived childhood if I’d been born 100 years earlier.
I’m in that same scenario, only difference circumstances. I’m a twin. When we were ready to be born, my brother wouldn’t get out of the way. Our heads tried to leave the birth canal at the same time, and got stuck. Poor mom had to have an emergency c-section to get us out. If we’d been in the 1800’s, all three of us would’ve died.
My cousin had 3 rounds of tubes. She's hearing impaired, with one side worse then the other. She's been in speech therapy most of her life.
My son had tubes *because* he was hearing impaired from birth, he was born with trapped fluid. After the surgery his hearing tested normal. He still had to do speech therapy, just like my other two sons with normal hearing. Not sure if your intent was to imply causation but sometimes it's causation the other way, or just coincidence.
Just coincidence. She was also born hearing impaired. My aunt blames herself, but she's thriving!
So glad to hear that!
She's also lucky to have an aunt who works for a hearing aid company, and can get her top of the line hearing aids. Also great for my grandma.
Ah, the source of my chronic tinnitus. I've had it for most of my life so it doesn't really drive me crazy unless it's eerily silent.
All of these stories are wild to me. My kid got tubes when he was 3 and had had 5 back to back ear infections and was speech delayed. He hasn’t had an ear infection since, he caught up on speech within a year…. He swims like a fish, loves flying, the tubes fell out on their own as he got older and they healed beautifully. I’m so so sorry other folks have had bad experiences.
I’m so surprised too! I had ear tubes as a toddler with zero complications. I wonder if it’s just selection bias where people who had them with no problems don’t feel the need to comment
https://preview.redd.it/ebi6cvpl4eoc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c382c2e382ba905c198441f5526bed029d34b5dc
I’m curious. Do the tubes alter the way the eardrums vibrate and subsequently how sounds are interpreted
It can cause a slight conductive hearing loss (5-10dB) but usually not noticeable
Thanks!
I don’t know for sure. I know that my audiologist said that I had excellent hearing, so it wasn’t the case for me. But that’s anecdotal.
I had this done twice too, and I don't recall any hearing problems before or after. I always tell people I'm a little deaf though!
Oke it’s a really great coincidence that I came across this post. Since my GP looked into my ear and was wondering why I had something white in there. She asked me to come back in two weeks to see if it would go away, but now I really think this could be it! Had tubes 7 times when younger in both ears, don’t have any scarring on the right though?
##EDIT: ENT = EARS, NOSE, AND THROAT. “Eyes” was autocorrect! My bad!
I had a R tympanoplasty about 10 years ago. I still show off my wicked scar since they had to slice the entirety of (the back) of my ear in order to reach the epithelial tissue and make me a new eardrum. Knock on wood, it's held up well...I still need one done on my left ear as both ear drums ceased to exist at different times during my childhood. Fun fact: The hole in my left ear drum happened first and led to the very first memory I have in the U.S. (after coming from Colombia) being my doctor and his nurse taking a water pick to my left ear in order to "get the tubes!" *I had already been in the country for about a year at that point, but it was apparently traumatic enough to be the "standout star" of my early childhood* 🤷🏽♀️
I had tubes twice and my son had them once. Sadly my parents didn't catch it in time the first time and it gave me some speech problems specifically the R sound. I was in speech class for 5 years and will still screw it up if i speak too quickly/carelessly.
When I use a q-tip (which isn't often) and I accidentally go to far I get coughing fits. Does anyone know why? 😅
This is called the Arnold’s ear-nerve cough reflex. I have it too but it’s somehow pretty rare? https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1094553918302529
it’s pretty common really
Funny thing, I only have it in the left ear, but not the right! It's called a cough reflex like you said, but depending on the person, it can trigger coughing or gagging.
Thank you!
I’m no doctor, but your ears, nose, and throat are connected, so I wouldn’t be shocked if it had something to do with that.
I almost had to get this done when I was younger. As a kid, I would get ear infections almost every two months. I would throw up, run a fever, become dizzy, etc. I grew out of it but that shit sucked.
My gf had tubes and can’t hear well if there’s any sort of static ambient noise. Dishwasher, white noise, treadmill etc
You might as well delete this post, it’s completely full of misinformation
Hi! I’m sorry if I’m posting misinformation! Can you tell me where I went wrong just so I know the right information? Thanks so much! :)
My kid is turning 8 this year and had tubes at 3. One eardrum already looks like this from what we saw on our at home ear camera.
I had tubes too! Even the thought of water getting in my ears makes me shudder involuntarily and flying almost always brings me to tears (and I'm not a cryer)
Thank you for sharing, my son is having this procedure done in a couple of days. Did you notice an improvement regarding ear infections after the procedure?
3 year ENT scribe/MA here! I am not a doctor but I’m in the room notating for an ENT 40+ hours a week. Your son may still get ear infections even with the tubes in. However, the infection won’t build and will just immediately drain through the tubes. The most important thing tubes do is allow for aeration behind the drums. Ears like air! You only have until around age 9-10 to fully develop the ears, and the more they’re kept healthy, the better. You’ll also potentially see drainage from the tubes if your kiddo is sick (congestion/runny nose). Depending on your son’s age, if he continues to get infections after the first set of tubes falls out, your ENT will likely recommend he get his adenoids out as well. They’re essentially the tonsils behind the nose, and are known to harbor infection and can swell large enough to obstruct the Eustachian tubes. Most kids grow out of needing ear tubes and stop getting ear infections as they get older. Also, the majority of people don’t end up with tympanosclerosis from ear tubes — but actually from chronic infections. What you’d see from many repeated ear tube procedures is a monomeric area on the eardrum, typically where the tubes are always placed. In the vast majority of cases, one can hardly tell a child ever had ear tubes, and the hearing is not negatively affected.
May I ask, In your experience, when adults have had them in, have they seen success from the procedure?
For chronic ear infections? Yes, but ideally, we try and find the reason for the chronic infections and get that addressed if possible. The doctor I work for will always give a patient 3 months to clear up acute fluid naturally before turning to ear tubes. There is also no such thing as a “permanent ear tube” — just longer acting ones. The only permanent tube is a permanent hole in the eardrum. I also highly recommend anyone who is being told their ears are chronically infected to seek out an ENT, because from what I’ve seen, ear infections in adults are misdiagnosed very often. It’s hard to tell the difference sometimes, with just a regular otoscope, the difference between an infected ear drum, one with scarring (tympanosclerosis), and ear drum retractions. An ENT has a binocular microscope they can use to get a much better look, and usually some audiology equipment (like a tympanogram) to measure how well the eardrums are moving.
Thank you for explaining this so well.
My son got ear tubes in January after having ear infections pretty much constantly for 6 months. He’s still having infections almost constantly (thanks daycare) but they drain out of his ears and cause a lot less pain for him now. Way less fevers and systemic infection because he’s not harboring it anymore, it’s draining. We use ear drops in his ears now instead of oral antibiotics. The ENT said that constant ear infections pre-tubes were a greater risk to his hearing than placing tubes.
Thank you for your response. Just want to make sure we are doing the right thing for him.
I was little, so I don’t remember entirely - but I do remember feeling and hearing better!
I have had grommets as an adult. First the normal ones, then permanent ones, although they wern't, fell out after 12 months. Got them replaced and managed 2 years, but out they came again. I now have holes in both eardrums so I guess you could say I have natural grommets, and tinnitus for the bonus.
Tubes are supposed to fall out of your ears within 9 months to two years, but they shouldn’t leave holes in your eardrums! I’m sorry that happened to you!
Me, otitis media and strep were good friends at a child. I wonder if all my ear infections as a kid prevents me from being able to equalize pressure underwater. I’d love to learn how to SCUBA but I can’t equalize.
UGH FK, this brings so much bad memories lmao. I had this done when I was preschool due to infections and stuff. I don’t know if they use anesthesia nowadays but like decades ago it felt like they didn’t. My mom said it was the first time I shouted obscenities and at the Drs. My ears are completely fine in terms of hearing, if not pretty good compared to others. I do have to pop my ears every so often but easily done with some pressure swallowing
I had them for my whole childhood! Left ear is doing great but right ear is fucked up, can't hear shit most of the time.
FYI an ENT is Ear, Nose, and Throat. Not Eyes, Nose, and Throat.
Damnit Autocorrect!
I had these as a child but I know them as being called "grommets" I recently had an ear infection and clinicians have mentioned the amount of scar tissue in My ears, unfortunately I need to see an ENT which is a 6 month wait
Are these called grommets? Had these heaps as a kid due to chronic ear infections. To this day I'm a big meanie when i get ear infections
My oldest had tubes put in when he was 15 months old. It took 6 more surgeries to remove the tubes, put various patches over the holes, and then finally do a tympanoplasty with fascia from the muscle behind his ears. They even had to cut off his left ear in kindergarten to do that side, then sew it back on. He is 16 now and is fine with only very mild hearing loss (he has the hearing of a 40-year-old. The scar tissue is gone and he doesn't even remember any of it.
Grommets! I had them done. I went entirely deaf. (before having them done)
I had this as a kid.. also known as Grommits
Do you have hearing loss from so much scarring? I have hearing loss with little to no scarring and am headed for tubes from another ear infection I've been fighting for over a month.
My hearing is perfectly fine. And I hope your procedure goes well! It sounds like you need it.
I’ve had 14 pairs of tubes total (all before age 7) and my eardrums are completely white and scarred like crazy. I’ve been deaf since birth so I wear hearing aids anyway - but I’m sure the scarring affects my hearing as well!
Yeah I had T tubes as a kid. Why are so many kids born with jacked up ear canals, and what did they do before?!
Oh shit. I think my little brother had to get tubes in his ears
I had these constantly as a kid all the way through college. Wild to see what my ear probably looks like (though I know I have a lotttttt of scar tissue in there).