Otology
Diseases of the Ear
Hearing Loss
The first step in dealing with deafness is to determine what type it is. People with deafness due to inner ear problems probably need a hearing aid. If it is a conduction (conductive deafness) problem, surgery may correct it. If you lose your hearing suddenly, there is no need to rush to the emergency department because you cannot do a hearing test there anyway.
The hearing loss could be due to a wax or viral infection. Call us first thing in the morning and let us evaluate the condition.
Impacted Ear Wax
Wax building up and blocking the ear is uncomfortable. It will be less painful and easier to remove if you soften the wax before removal. Call us for advice on this on how to do this.
Ear Infection
When the external ear canal gets infected by fungi or bacteria, it needs to be cleaned and the appropriate cream applied. Simply using the same ear drops that worked the last time the ear got infected, may not cure the problem. Middle ear infections are usually bacterial or viral, not fungal. Oral antibiotics are commonly prescribed for bacterial infections.
Rigging in Ears
Tinnitus is the condition where patients hear ringing (or other sounds) in the ear. Below are articles on the Tinnitus. These articles are well written and the information is accurate. Unfortunately, most of the time, the investigations produce normal results and some patients cannot accept that no clear cause can be found.
How to stop ringing in ears
The therapy for Tinnitus is Masking. This is essentially using an external noise to “block out” the Tinnitus. Many patients consider this as “not doing anything”.
Information about tinnitus:
Giddiness
Some people are told that their giddiness is due to “ear water imbalance”. Initially, this explanation was only used by Traditional Chinese Medical practitioners but it is now even used by doctors trained in Western medicine. Patients come expecting that is is possible to measure how much water there is in their inner ear and, therefore get upset when they find that this is not to be taken literally. This article discusses the possible causes of giddiness: What are the common causes of giddiness
Very often, no clear cause is found and this causes disappointment but, it is actually good that nothing significant is found because it means there is nothing to be greatly concerned about. Most of the time, it is just some viral infection from which the patient will eventually recover. Then, there always is the occasional attention seeker who just wants a diagnosis to suffer from.