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ETD issues, retracted eardrums, possible perforations - general advice sought

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dangerousdan
dangerousdan

Hi all,

Short story:

  • Had glue ear as a child, grommets inserted probably around aged 5 ish.
  • Always had ear problems on planes as adult, never thought much of it as it didn't affect me a great deal.
  • Learned to SCUBA dive in the summer.
  • I believed that I was equalising properly (no pain during diving, none of the common symptoms of a perforation), but since doing the course I have had more problems.
  • I bought a USB otoscope so I could see for myself what my eardrums looked like.
  • I have a chronically retracted right ear drum - even when I feel it pop it quickly collapses again.
  • My left ear drum is not retracted (it has previously been) but it may have quite a large perforation (I'm not entirely sure if I'm looking at a perforation or not).
  • If I do have a perforation, this happened on a flight 4 weeks ago not during the diving (I know this because I was capturing images for some time, and it wasn't perforated after the diving but it was badly glue'd up).
  • My hearing seems ok to me, I occasionally feel a little off balance but not significantly.

I'm seeing an NHS consultant in a few weeks time.

Would love to discuss with those who have had any significant surgeries on their ear drums (tissue grafting) and Eustachian tubes (dilation?) in the UK. I can't reliably pop my ears still so if I do have any surgery I'd want to fix everything together.

I was considering a private consultation but may as well take the NHS appointment first.

I can post my images if people want to see them.

Thanks

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