What is Tympanoplasty

Each ear is made up of 3 parts. There is the outer ear which you can see, and which gathers the sound. Further in, the outer ear joins the middle ear on each side of the head. Deeper still, there is an inner ear on each side. The sound goes down the ear tube, which is part of the outer ear, into the middle ear on that side. The ear drum stretches across the deepest part of the ear tube between the outer ear and the middle ear. The drum is about 8 mm (a third of an inch) across. It is made of thin skin like the top of a real drum. Your ear drum has a hole in it, which doctors call a perforation. Germs may go through the hole and cause an ear infection, particularly if you get water in the ear whilst hair washing, taking a shower or swimming. The hole in the ear drum will stop it from vibrating normally, and this may cut down your hearing. Sealing up the hole in the ear drum should prevent you getting so many ear infections, and may improve the hearing. Just how much hearing improvement depends where in the drum the hole is, and how big it is.

The Operation

You have a general anaesthetic and are completely asleep. A cut will be made in the skin above your ear. From inside this cut the Surgeon will take a small, thin piece of tissue. This tissue is called a graft, and the Surgeon will use it to seal up the hole in your ear drum. The surgeon will shine a microscope inside your ear, and the rest of the operation is carried out through the ear passage. Using very, very small instruments, the ear drum is lifted up and the graft is put underneath the ear drum and spread out to seal up the hole. A small amount of some sticky-spongy dissolvable material is placed on each side of the graft (in the ear tube and the middle ear) to support the graft until it heals and seals up the hole. This material will just melt away in a few weeks. A dressing soaked in antibiotic drops will then be put into the ear passage, and stays in place for about three weeks whilst the graft and ear drum are healing up. Cotton-wool padding is placed over the ear and held in place with a bandage. Because you are asleep you will not feel any pain during the operation. You will be in the hospital for one or two days depending upon your progress.