granulation tissue in external ear canal post-surgery

[Guest guest]

Hi all:

As background, my five-year-old son, Max, had a canal wall up

procedure in his left ear done at s Hopkins in January this

year. This was his first surgery and another one is anticipated in

August or September. The cholesteatoma was quite extensive and had

destroyed his hearing bones. The surgeon thinks it is likely to come

back and they will probably have to do canal-wall down at the next

surgery (about 40-50% chance). They grafted his ear drum, but did

not do any other reconstruction of the ear. We are currently living

in Bangkok and returned to Thailand after the surgeon gave us the

clear to fly (2 weeks post-surgery). Max did fine on the flight. We

ended up finding out about the cholesteatoma while we were on holiday

in the U.S., which was fortunate because we could get the surgery

done there by extending our stay (we are Americans posted overseas in

Bangkok, Thailand).

We saw an otolaryngologist in Bangkok today (8 weeks post-surgery)

and he said the granulation tissue has not improved in the ear canal

since our visit to him 2 weeks ago. Two weeks ago when we saw him,

he said it was normal to have granulation tissue in the ear canal

post-surgery, but I guess he is concerned because it looks worse

today. He said it is not dry yet and also there is some bleeding

from it and maybe a slight bit of yellow (which could be infection).

He said that 60% of the ear drum that he can see looks healed (at the

appointment we had with him 2 weeks ago I thought he said he could

see 80-90% of the ear drum and what he could see looked healed), but

the granulation tissue is currently blocking about 40% of the ear

drum from his vision. The packing material is all gone so all that's

blocking his view is the granulation tissue.

He told us that we should continue to keep Max's ear dry - cover his

ears in the bath, no swimming, etc. and that he does not want to do

medication yet, but he said that if the granulation tissue has not

improved in 2 weeks, that he would start antibiotic ear drops. I

hadn't noticed any discharge from Max's ear, but tonight (post-exam)

I saw a little dried blood. There is no bad smell from the ear. Max

has been picking at his ear a bit and the doctor warned that he

shouldn't do that, though it's hard to stop him from doing it. He

doesn't reach deep inside though, but I stop him every time I notice

him picking.

I don't know how worried about this or not I should be. The surgeon

at Hopkins had indicated that everything should be all healed up 6

weeks post-surgery (though I think he was primarily talking about the

ear drum graft). He didn't say anything about the possibility of

granulation tissue preventing Max from swimming, etc.

Of course, what concerns me the most is that if the ear drum hasn't

fully healed, that the granulated tissue will grow into the middle

ear, though I hope that since 2 weeks ago it appeared that the ear

drum had healed (at least,the 80-90% that could be seen), that this

is not likely.

My question to you all is did you have granulation tissue in the

external ear canal post-surgery and what did your doctors say about

it, how long did it take to heal, etc.?

Thanks,

Maddy

[Guest guest]

Very sorry to hear about your son. We've been through a couple of

surgeries with our little girl, and it's not fun.

In her last surgery, she did have a lot of white gunk that had to be

suctioned out at the followups at 6 weeks and 3 months. I don't know

if that's what you mean or not. The eardrum was fine, but they asked

us to use two types of drops-- antibiotic and acetic acid (I hope I'm

remembering this correctly). The doctor did not seem horribly

concerned, though it did itch and bother my daughter. He said it

happens a lot (though I must say it didn't happen at all on the first

round).

Anyway, not sure if it's the same thing.

Best of luck,

Lynn

>

> My question to you all is did you have granulation tissue in the

> external ear canal post-surgery and what did your doctors say about

> it, how long did it take to heal, etc.?

>

> Thanks,

> Maddy

>