Your eardrums work with your inner and middle ear to help you hear and balance, but they’re as fragile as they are essential. Eardrums can be easily injured or ruptured even with slight pressure, which may cause long-term effects that impact your hearing.
Knowing what symptoms to watch for can ensure you seek timely treatment to avoid complications and preserve your hearing. Keep reading to learn more about how to know if your eardrum is perforated.
What is a Perforated Eardrum?
A perforated or ruptured eardrum is a tear or hole in the eardrum. The eardrum, or tympanic membrane, is the thin tissue separating the middle and outer ear.
It plays a crucial role in your ability to hear and protects your middle ear from bacteria, water, dirt, and debris. A perforated eardrum can affect your hearing and balance.
Common causes of a perforated eardrum include middle ear infection, ear or head injuries, air pressure changes, and very loud noises like gunfire or fireworks.
How Can You Know if Your Eardrum is Perforated?
Signs of a perforated eardrum include:
Ear Pain
A perforated eardrum can bring on sudden pain. The pain can be a dull ache, general discomfort, or sharp, intense pain that may linger or disappear suddenly.
Ear Drainage
Another common sign of a ruptured eardrum is bloody, mucus-like, or pus-filled drainage from your ear. The discharge may be yellow, white, or slightly bloody.
Dry, crusted material on your pillow could also signal a perforated eardrum.
Ringing in the Ear
Buzzing or ringing in the ear, also called tinnitus, can be a warning sign of a ruptured eardrum. It may come and go and range in severity.
Itching in the Ear
Your ear canal can feel itchy when you have a perforated eardrum. It may come on abruptly before going away, or it can persist.
Vertigo
Vertigo is a spinning sensation that can make you feel off-balance and dizzy. You may feel like you or everything around you is spinning around, even though that’s not the case.
Vertigo can be quite disorienting and may be caused by a ruptured eardrum. It can also trigger nausea or vomiting.
Ear Fullness
When the eardrum is perforated, you may feel pressure or fullness in the ear. Ear fullness is a sensation of having a clogged or blocked ear.
This can lead to popping or crackling noises and muffled hearing in the affected ear.
Hearing Loss
A perforated eardrum can cause hearing loss in the affected ear. The level of hearing loss usually depends on what caused it and the size of the perforation.
Hearing loss is often temporary and resolves once your eardrum completely heals. However, some people may experience permanent hearing loss.
Fever
You may develop a fever if your eardrum has been perforated due to an infection. The fever could be a result of your immune system’s response to the ear infection.
Facial Weakness
Facial weakness can be a sign of a ruptured eardrum in severe cases. It may mean the perforation is affecting your nerves.
Is a Perforated Eardrum Serious?
A ruptured eardrum can be serious if the tear doesn’t heal on its own. When that’s the case, it may cause the following complications:
Vertigo
You may experience long-term vertigo if the hole in your eardrum doesn’t heal.
Recurring Ear Infections
A tear in your eardrum can allow bacteria to enter your eardrum, which may cause frequent ear infections.
Cholesteatoma
Cholesteatoma is a cyst in the middle ear. It can happen when old skin cells, earwax, and other waste material pass through the hole in your eardrum and collect behind your eye drum, forming a cyst.
Over time, the cyst can affect your balance, hearing, and function of your facial muscles.
Hearing Loss
When the tear is large, you could suffer from long-term hearing loss.
How is a Perforated Eardrum Treated?
A perforated eardrum typically heals its own without treatment within 2 to 3 months. However, it’s best to see your ENT specialist if you’re experiencing symptoms of a ruptured eardrum to prevent long-term complications.
They may recommend treatment options such as:
Antibiotics
Your ENT specialist may prescribe antibiotics to clear up an existing ear infection that might have caused your eardrum to rupture or prevent an ear infection as your eardrum heals. If you’re experiencing ear pain, they can also recommend over-the-counter pain medications such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen.
Surgery
Sometimes, a perforated eardrum may require surgery. Your ENT specialist may perform any of these surgical procedures depending on your individual needs:
Myringoplasty
In this procedure, your ENT specialist will place a medicated paper patch over the hole in your eardrum. The patch will help your eardrum heal and cover the tear.
Tympanoplasty
If myringoplasty doesn’t work, your ENT specialist may recommend tympanoplasty, which closes the hole in your eardrum with a graft. Grafts can be made with cartilage, skin, or material from the same surgery site or another part of your body.
Protect Your Hearing and Ear Health
If you suspect you have a ruptured eardrum, getting your ears checked early at Southern Indiana ENT is crucial for addressing hearing issues. Our ENT specialists have extensive experience treating perforated eardrums and can help alleviate your symptoms and prevent complications.
Are you experiencing any symptoms of a perforated eardrum? Schedule your appointment at Southern Indiana ENT in Indianapolis, IN, today to determine if you need treatment.