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Eardrum Ruptured Following A Ear Infection. Feeling Deaf. Get Treated Immediately?
on the weekend my eardrum ruptured following a ear infection which i had ignored. i had to go to the out of hours dr who gave me antibiotics and told me to go to gp tuesday (yestetday). gp said that the eardrum us bulging and there is inflammation in the other ear also. i am feeling deaf and pretty rubbish! .ididnt go to wirk monday or tuesday but still not up to going back (dint think i ciuld handle) the noise of schoolchildren -im a high school teacher) but i still feel guilty. dr signed me off until friday which means i will have had 4 days off. do you think this is acceptable, or should i go back sonner? do people take time iff work with a ruptured ear drum or is it just me! !!!
Wed, 14 Aug 2013
Hello and welcome to HCM,
A ruptured ear drum in most of the cases gets healed in due course if taken care properly in the initial phase. If you are complacent in this time then you may end up with a permanent hole for which the treatment is only surgery. So take rest and stop feeling guilty!!
You may however return to work whenever you are comfortable but take the following precautions:
-Keep the ear dry and clean, if the inflammation has stopped you do not need to apply ear drops
-No water should enter the ear especially during head bath for the next three weeks or so
-get an audiometry testing done so that the loss can be quantified and monitored
-the healing takes anywhere between three weeks to three months so be patient
take care
Dr Sriram Nathan
A ruptured ear drum in most of the cases gets healed in due course if taken care properly in the initial phase. If you are complacent in this time then you may end up with a permanent hole for which the treatment is only surgery. So take rest and stop feeling guilty!!
You may however return to work whenever you are comfortable but take the following precautions:
-Keep the ear dry and clean, if the inflammation has stopped you do not need to apply ear drops
-No water should enter the ear especially during head bath for the next three weeks or so
-get an audiometry testing done so that the loss can be quantified and monitored
-the healing takes anywhere between three weeks to three months so be patient
take care
Dr Sriram Nathan
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