Perforated Eardrum

Your alarm goes off in Portland, Oregon, you (reluctantly) get up, find your way to the shower, belt out your favorite pop tune at the top of your lungs, towel off and clean out your ears with a cotton swab.  Do any of the parts of your normal morning routine sound like it could damage your hearing? Turns out, one part can. If you guessed the ballad you just nailed the high note to, you would be wrong; while it may be (emotionally) damaging to those within earshot, it is not dangerous to your own hearing. Turns out, cleaning your ears with a cotton swab can cause damage. Seems crazy, doesn’t it? A soft cotton swab being capable of permanently damaging your hearing.  It’s true! Placing a foreign object into your ear can lead to a perforated eardrum.

Your eardrum is a thin membrane that separates your outer ear from the middle ear. The eardrum is an important part of the process of converting the sound wave that enters the ear into the vibration that then moves through the rest of the ear and eventually is transformed into an electrical signal that is sent to the brain. Your eardrum is also responsible for preventing pieces of debris, bacteria and water from entering the middle ear, which can lead to infections.

Placing a cotton swab into your ear puts your eardrum in serious danger. Even the gentlest pressure can cause the eardrum to rip. This can result in a sudden sharp pain in the ear, drainage from the ear (either clear or bloody), a buzzing sounds and even hearing loss.

If these symptoms sound like something you have recently experienced, you may have ripped your eardrum. You should visit your Portland audiologist as soon as possible. Once there, they will look in your ear with an otoscope, a lighted instrument, for visible signs of damage. Your audiologist may also perform a simple hearing test to determine if your hearing has been affected. The good news is that hearing loss caused by a perforated eardrum is usually temporary. 

A perforated eardrum does not typically require treatment, as it can heal on its own. In order to prevent an infection, antibiotics may be prescribed and if you are experiencing pain, over-the-counter medication may be recommended. If the eardrum is not healing in a timely manner or the hole is too large, surgery may be needed. The outpatient surgery repairs the hole with a piece of your own tissue.

Tomorrow, when you inevitably feel the urge to clean your ears out with a cotton swab after your morning shower, stop. Think about the consequences. Any debris or earwax trapped in your ear will usually be washed out in the shower. If not, your Portland audiologist has the tools to easily clean out your ears for you.