Experiences with Prostheses- Would you recommend it?

February 26, 2003

My son had a cholesteatoma removed in May 2001 and a tympanoplasty

performed at the same time. He had a TORP (hydroxypatite) inserted in

Feb 2002 during his second look op.

Although the prosthesis dislodged within a couple of weeks, it caused

no problem until it extruded at the end of August 2002. Since then,

the ear has been constantly discharging through the site of the

extrusion. A polyp also formed at the site and was removed by the

consultant at the outpatient clinic ( he said it was only possible

without a general because was so cooperative). Weekly

suctioning, antibiotics inserted into middle ear, oral antibiotics

have not resolved it. Due for an op on 7th March but until then, the

nurse is now using a dressing with antibiotic cream in the ear canal

to limit contact of discharge with skin of ear canal. It was causing

it to be inflamed and granulation tissue was forming. Since the

regular use of the dressing the skin is now healthy looking. As the

problem has not cleared up, the present intention is to create as

healthy an environment as possible for surgery.

has normal hearing in the right ear and is managing fine in

all respects. However he did say he could hear much better when the

prosthesis was in place. I have decided against another prosthesis

and the surgeon is happy with that, he says he can do it later if

wants one when he is older. (12 years) would have

to miss sporting activities for ages and be extra careful about any

bumps to the head I also am now concerned that if he rejected this

one, he might do the same again and we would have a repeat of the

present problem.

I am really interested in hearing of experiences with prostheses.

Would you recommend it? Any problems, particularly extrusion. Thank

you.

Maureen

February 26, 2003

At 10:40 PM 2/26/2003 +0000, you wrote:

>I am really interested in hearing of experiences with prostheses.

>Would you recommend it? Any problems, particularly extrusion. Thank

>you.

>

>Maureen

Mine is extruding, too. It's taking a long time to come through and I

swear I can feel it when it's trying to get out. I've pretty much decided

against a third prosthesis as there is no guarantee that it won't extrude

either. I don't want to go for any more surgeries if at all avoidable, so

I'm probably going to replace my TORP with a hearing aid if and when it

does finally decide to completely extrude. My second prosthesis, BTW, was

completely entrapped with a recurrence of cholesteatoma a year-and-a-half

after my second look surgery and had to be removed with the regrowth.

Diane

http://www.sassysuds.com

February 26, 2003

Hi Maureen,

I have a similar concern and it's on my list of questions for my son's doctor. (I hope he has some time since the list is getting pretty long.) My son had CWU procedure, 3 1/2 yrs ago and then reconstruction a year later. The c-toma grew back and he had his third surgery last week. I'm inclined, and so is my husband, to consider not having reconstruction for at least 2 years to make sure it doesn't grow back. He had a CWD last week. My son seems to think he gets along fine with hearing in only one ear (Are there any issues in his learning and socialization that we should be concerned about?<-another question for the doctor) and he doesn't want the reconstruction. So, we need to discuss with the doctor, who indicated that he wanted to do the reconstruction in about 8 mos.. Luckily, we have the time to really weigh our options. Right now, we're all pretty sick of surgery!!!