What is cholesteatoma, and why does it develop?
It is an insidious condition, often described as “skin in the wrong place”. As a result of chronic inflammation, skin from the ear canal grows into the middle ear through a perforation in the eardrum and begins to erode the surrounding structures.
What are the symptoms, and what are the risks if it is left untreated?
As the disease progresses, it can cause:
- Discharge
- an almost continuous flow of pus from the ear canal, sometimes foul-smelling
- Hearing loss
- through destruction of one or more of the ossicles; in some cases the loss may become permanent
- Vertigo
- through erosion of the labyrinth, the organ of balance
How is it treated?
Microsurgery is the only effective treatment. The procedure of choice is tympanoplasty, which, depending on the case, may be performed in a single operation or planned in two stages.
Surgery and hospital stay
- Anaesthesia
- general, in both adults and children
- Hospital stay
- one night, with discharge the following morning
- Follow-up
- first check-up about one month after surgery
This information is provided for general guidance. Every treatment decision is made during a specialist consultation.