Tympanoplasty is the surgical operation performed to reconstruct hearing mechanism of middle ear. This procedure is required if there is a damage to the bone chain of the middle ear. Commonly affected bone is the long process of incus, where it gets necrosed. The bone chain can be repaired using autograft of incus or cartilage. Prosthetic implants made of hydroxyapatite or teflon are also used.
In tympanoplasty, the surgeon will take a small piece of tissue from under the skin behind or above your child's ear. This tissue is very much like eardrum tissue, and the surgeon will graft it across the eardrum hole. The graft encourages the normal eardrum tissue to grow across the hole.
Severe hearing loss can occur in approximately 1% of patients. General anesthesia problems: A small percentage of patients may experience complications with general anesthesia, including cardiac arrhythmia or breathing problems.
Full tympanoplasty surgery recovery time can be 2 to 3 months. In fact, the hearing will probably be worse than it was before surgery until this packing dissolves. At the first post-operative visit, your doctor may gently clean the ear canal with a vacuum in order to inspect the reconstructed eardrum.
