Cholesteatoma without symptoms?

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Hi, my ENT recently referred me to a specialist because of a suspected cholesteatoma. As a baby and young child, I had many ear infections that resulted in a number of tubes. My hearing loss went undiagnosed for a while until a teacher noticed I wasn’t responding. I was 95% deaf in my right ear and 100% deaf in my left. I cannot remember how long this lasted but it was through elementary at least. My ENT was talking about rebuilding my ear drum but my hearing came back and since then I have had little to no problems, so that’s why I am surprised. It seems from what I have read, most people have some sort of symptoms. My ears pop often and when I get sick they’re really clogged, all things I assumed to be normal. I’ve gotten dizzy spells a few times recently and the reason I went to see an ENT again was because of a constant whooshing sound in my left ear (the diagnosed ear), especially when I would lay down, but that too has mostly gone away. I get the occasional ringing and do suffer some hearing loss of high frequency sounds in my left ear. I also had gone to a specialist about five years ago because my GP thought I should be in pain from the amount of scarring in my ears and sent me to an ENT who suggested I get looked at because of my history and how much scarring I have. But I only remember him mentioning middle ear surgery (I assumed this was different) “eventually” and didn’t seem particularly concerned, so neither was I. I won’t see this new specialist for another month so I guess I’m just overwhelming myself with information ahead of time and wondering if it’s possible to have this issue without any significant symptoms or did I just find the right ENT who may have spotted something others may not have??

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  • Posted

    Hi,

    My son didn't have any symptoms and one day at the age of 8.5 he had an ear infection and bang we were told about cholesteatoma. He has been operated ever since and if you need one always get 2 opinions. Read all the blogs here as they have valuable information. The treatment you get will depend on your doctors expertise, where you live and what you plan to do. Once diagnosed do some good research. I did so much research that I was sure where I would get my son operated and by what technique.

    Best of luck.

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