Perforated tympanic membrane

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Obedeli

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Let's just say that a certain someone is sitting with their wife watching TV and relieving an itch in their ears with a Q tip (yes I know it sounds weird). Now let's say your wife suddenly goes to nudge you and in doing so, causes you to jam the Q tip into your ear so hard you see stars. OF COURSE, I will get it seen by a real doctor but in the meantime, assuming it is a small perforation (I can still hear but there is blood on the tip of the Q tip) how long does a TM take to heal if it is a small perforation?
 
Obedeli said:
Let's just say that a certain someone is sitting with their wife watching TV and relieving an itch in their ears with a Q tip (yes I know it sounds weird). Now let's say your wife suddenly goes to nudge you and in doing so, causes you to jam the Q tip into your ear so hard you see stars. OF COURSE, I will get it seen by a real doctor but in the meantime, assuming it is a small perforation (I can still hear but there is blood on the tip of the Q tip) how long does a TM take to heal if it is a small perforation?
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probably just like any other clean skin break... epithelialization in 24-48 hours... just rinse your ear out with water and let it air dry. your fp is not gonna do anything to your ear.

fyi - in france, many pediatricians treat otitis media not with antibiotics but by poking a hole in the affected side tm. a perforated tm is not the end of the world.

having said all of this, you should see your doctor anyway. mb your tm is seriously fubarred in a way that you haven't described. besided that's a lot of blunt force to your tm... a q-tip? dang....
 
Obedeli said:
Let's just say that a certain someone is sitting with their wife watching TV and relieving an itch in their ears with a Q tip (yes I know it sounds weird). Now let's say your wife suddenly goes to nudge you and in doing so, causes you to jam the Q tip into your ear so hard you see stars. OF COURSE, I will get it seen by a real doctor but in the meantime, assuming it is a small perforation (I can still hear but there is blood on the tip of the Q tip) how long does a TM take to heal if it is a small perforation?
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the better question would be how long it'll take my s.o. to heal after i avenge myself for that incident. 😉 if it's really a tm perf, it'll take months to heal, depending on the size of the perf. i've seen lots of children come in on my peds rotation, kids who had aom ears that perf'ed, and the attendings didn't seem too concerned about it so long as the kid could still hear. it's also possible that all you did was traumatize the external canal, which'll matter a lot less and heal a lot more quickly. must hurt like an f'er though.- either way, good luck.
 
Celiac Plexus said:
probably just like any other clean skin break... epithelialization in 24-48 hours... just rinse your ear out with water and let it air dry. your fp is not gonna do anything to your ear.

fyi - in france, many pediatricians treat otitis media not with antibiotics but by poking a hole in the affected side tm. a perforated tm is not the end of the world.

having said all of this, you should see your doctor anyway. mb your tm is seriously fubarred in a way that you haven't described. besided that's a lot of blunt force to your tm... a q-tip? dang....
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dude you are mr. acronym: fp, fyi, tm, mb, fubarred. made to be a doc.
 
Obedeli said:
Let's just say that a certain someone is sitting with their wife watching TV and relieving an itch in their ears with a Q tip (yes I know it sounds weird). Now let's say your wife suddenly goes to nudge you and in doing so, causes you to jam the Q tip into your ear so hard you see stars. OF COURSE, I will get it seen by a real doctor but in the meantime, assuming it is a small perforation (I can still hear but there is blood on the tip of the Q tip) how long does a TM take to heal if it is a small perforation?
Click to expand...

Let's say that a certain someone is sitting with their BF watching tv and helping him with an itch in his ear with an otoscope and one of those Asian ear cleaners (yes I know it sounds weird). Now lets say your cat suddenly jumps on your lap and in doing so, causes you to jam the Asian ear cleaner into the BF's ear so hard that he sees stars, has tinnitus and a fair amount of blood...

Ok, so he wouldn't let me look again to see if I'd perforated the TM, the pain resolved within a few hours, as did the tinnitus and the bleeding stopped pretty quickly. If I had perforated the TM, it would take about a month to close. If you are fairly sure you have, keep the canal dry during showering (ie, a cotton ball coated in Vaseline will do the trick) and swimming. That said, you can live with chronic perf - I have one due to chronic OM (mostly untreated by my doctor-fearing mother) as a child and while I have a slight hearing loss in that ear (so its not a recommended route of treatment) I hve no other problems with it.
 
Hey I appreciate everyone's input! Last night that certain someone could feel air with pain going through their ear everytime they yawned. fun.
It is good to know it is not the end of the world and I certainly will have it looked at. I will keep that sucker dry too!
 
Obedeli said:
Hey I appreciate everyone's input! Last night that certain someone could feel air with pain going through their ear everytime they yawned. fun.
It is good to know it is not the end of the world and I certainly will have it looked at. I will keep that sucker dry too!
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Good idea...a little Otofloxin wouldn't hurt (which my ENT buddies told me to get for my BF but he didn't use) either. 😀
 
I bet you didn't perf your TM. I've seen 4-5 people that swear that they have, but only scratch the EAC. Its actually pretty hard to do because of the "anterior bulge," with is a bony protrusion that kinda blocks the TM. I bet that you scratched the bulge and that is what bled on your q-tip. I would suggest using Floxin 5 gtts BID for 5 days to prevent any infection, cause that would hurt like a mofo.
 
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This is so freaking embarrassing.... AND PAINFUL. I have found my ear hurts when I lay a certain way. DON'T LAY THAT WAY is the advice I am following. Ah sheesh. I don't know if I am still covered by school insurance or if I have to wait until I get to my residency to get this looked at. Aw nuts! Some otofloxacin would be great about now.
 
COBRA will keep you covered under your school's insurance if you are willing to pay the full premium. Good luck!
 
Andy15430 said:
COBRA will keep you covered under your school's insurance if you are willing to pay the full premium. Good luck!
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I say no to Cobra commander and his deceptive plan to use YOU to recruit me. Flint, Lady Jay and Snake Eyes agree, knowledge is power.
 
Remember, knowing is half the battle.
 
JS Haldane (of the "Haldane effect" fame) perfed his TMs so many times doing all of his bell jar/pressure experiments that the holes became permanent. Apparently he thought this was great for parties where he could blow smoke out of his ears... So if you are looking for something to do to pass the time, they can always try that sort of thing.

On second thought, Haldane also liked to put his wife in the bell chamber and pressurize it until she had seizures... 😱

Also it is "ofloxacin"... 🙂
 
Dude, do you know any Oto residents? They should be happy to look in your ear and get you a sample of Floxin if you need it. Even if you don't know any residents, find someone who does (med students, etc) and get them to ask a resident to check it out. It only takes about 5 seconds. Last resort is to find a 4th year med student who is going into Oto and have them take a look, but they may not have access to any drops.
 
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