Damage to the tympanic membrane in all cases leads to hearing impairment and the possible occurrence of infectious inflammation in the middle ear. This gives a person not only discomfort, but also causes a lot of painful sensations.
The tympanic membrane is one of the most fragile parts of the human hearing aid. Therefore, its trauma and rupture occurs quite often both in children and in adults.
Timely detection of damage and surgical complex treatment will allow to restore the functions of hearing without consequences and return to normal full-fledged life. In many cases, the rupture of the membrane is possible with factors that do not depend on a person in any way.
Etiology of the disease ICD 10
The rupture of the tympanic membrane is the damage to the thin skin that separates the auditory meatus and the middle ear. In the International Classification of Diseases 10th Edition, the traumatic rupture of the tympanic membrane has the code S09.2.
About the rupture of the membrane is spoken in the presence of damage, a hole and an obvious wound, that is, a rupture. In the presence of injury to the membrane, a person suffers from unpleasant aching sensations, sharp pains, accompanied by tingling inside the ear.
With a break, the symptomatology is individual in each case. Depending on what caused the rupture, the manifestation of concomitant symptoms also depends. Treatment is also prescribed when taking into account the symptoms.
What does the tympanic perforation look like?
Causes of
The rupture of the tympanic membrane can occur for a variety of reasons. Among them may be mechanical injuries, consequences after strikes or unsuccessful actions in the performance of physical work. The main types of reasons include:
- Improper cleaning of the ears or foreign body entry into the ear canal. Not careful hygiene measures can harm the eardrum. After a piece of cotton wool or a piece of any other object remains inside the canal, the infection begins to develop in the ear, which subsequently leads to suppuration and the appearance of otitis in the middle ear.
- Strong and sharp noise. Sudden explosion, excessively loud music in headphones, noise of industrial equipment and machines can also provoke damage to the membrane. Such damage is usually not so significant. For a while, the hearing loses its sharpness, but as the membrane heals, it recovers. Sometimes the gap may be more significant, which is accompanied by the appearance of blood from the auricle and the appearance of pain.
- Pressure. Sharp changes in pressure in the ear canal can easily lead to a violation of air pressure, which is more likely to lead to a rupture of the membrane. Precautions should be observed for those who are accustomed to sneezing with a closed nose and those who often fly on airplanes.
- Inflammation. The inflammatory process that starts inside the ear can lead to serious complications in the form of suppuration, severe pain. It is this pus that exerts pressure on the wall of the tympanic membrane in the future, leading to its damage.
- Heat exposure. Here we are talking about getting burns, which lead to pressure loss, which leads to a break. This type of rupture is quite rare and is typical for people working in heavy industry.
- Craniocerebral head trauma. Strokes, falls and bruises, which lead to a fracture or serious damage to the temporal bone, can also cause traumatization of the tympanic septum.
Also, a rupture can occur if you are potentially susceptible to frequent accumulation of fluid in the middle ear.
Eardrum rupture with the cotton swab
Symptoms of
When the membrane is broken, a person can experience more than 10 symptoms, indicating that something has happened to his ears. Symptomatic in each person is different and can manifest itself more sharply at the very beginning, after which to go on recession.
In general, the following symptoms can fall on a person:
- acute pain in the ear;
- ringing or tinnitus;
- dizziness;
- appearance of viscous fluid or spotting from the ear canal;
- hearing loss.
Of the additional symptoms in a person manifested malaise, weakness, some disorientation. When collecting an anamnesis by a doctor, patients complain of aching pain inside the ear, which directly indicates the presence of an inflammatory process.
Symptoms of rupture of the eardrum
- Among the primary signs are a sharp pain in the ear. In some cases, the pain arises so unexpected and abrupt that people are even able to lose consciousness.
- For some time, the pain feels strong enough, a person feels a ripple.
- Liquid may appear due to rupture, but not necessary. Allocations can appear much later.
After finding such signs, it is better not to delay with an independent diagnosis and urgently go to the doctor for an examination.
How to identify in children?
The rupture of the tympanic membrane is manifested in children on the same principle as in adults. The only problem is that the child can not navigate in time and do not understand what happened to him.
This can significantly delay the diagnosis process and diagnosis decisions. Thus, after discovering that your child has become restless, constantly touching the ear, scratching or holding it, try to find out if his pain is disturbing inside the ear canal.
Even if the child categorically denies, do not be lazy and show your baby to a specialist to exclude the possibility of a rupture and otitis.
Methods of diagnosis
In addition to collecting anamnesis, the doctor must necessarily perform otoscopy.
This simple and absolutely painless procedure reveals the presence of a rupture or any other changes in the auditory canal.
Inspection allows you to determine the degree of rupture. In the presence of pus or any other suspicious secretions, the doctor takes a small amount of fluid for analysis.
This allows you to identify a potential causative agent of infection and prescribe effective antibiotics when designing a treatment plan.
Treatment
With an ordinary rupture of the tympanic membrane, the most that is sparing treatment is prescribed. In most cases, the damage is overgrown without assistance. Rarely, the doctor can be an auxiliary tool that will speed up the process.
Sometimes you may need lotion, they can remove discomfort and reduce itching. For the duration of treatment, do not take sharp breaths and exhale through the nose. You should also control the desire to sneeze. Active movements are also prohibited until the full restoration of the membrane.
How to treat tympanic ruptures in clinics:
Medically
In the presence of an inflammatory process, a course of antibiotics and ancillary drugs is prescribed. This need comes only in the presence of thick pus and blood secretions, which in addition are accompanied by severe itching and unpleasant sensations inside.
In case of inflammation, the ear must be laid with a sterile patch, which is replaced about 3 or 4 times. In the process of changing patches, the ear must be treated with a special solution or with ordinary alcohol.
Some patients are prescribed drops - anti-inflammatory substances, for example, otipax, otofa, sofradex and others.
Physiotherapy
Physiotherapy involves a number of the simplest recommendations. They include compliance with the regime of calm and rest, which would allow the broken membrane to recover normally without complications.
Folk remedies
Folk remedies have a generally restorative and complementary effect, which will be quite appropriate for general treatment.
To accelerate the healing of the membrane, one should accustom oneself to consuming more vitamins C. It can be found not only in fruits. For a more rapid normalization of the condition, you can use:
- tea from a rose hip broth;
- tea from hawthorn;
- juice from sweet grapes.
You can also use juice from plantain, infusion of needles and nightshade in order to moisten a cotton swab and lay it in a sore ear.
You can learn more about the eardrum functions in our video:
Consequences of
The complications caused by the rupture are directly related to how quickly the damage was detected. The main danger is the ability of microorganisms to penetrate deep into the ear, which provokes the development of serious inflammation.
At the initial stage, a person has a decrease in hearing. Further, an even deeper penetration of the infection is possible. This, in turn, causes a series of inflammations of the ear structures. They are accompanied by human weakness, nausea and vomiting.
With the deepest penetration of infection, people develop diseases such as encephalitis and meningitis. In the absence of skilled care, a patient may be at risk of death or lifelong disability.