Scarring on the Eardrum — Does Anyone Have This?

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has had scarring on their ear drum?

To cut a long story short, I suffered an acoustic trauma (close shouting near my left ear) about 5 weeks ago and since then it’s been very painful with increased hyperacusis/tinnitus and a dullness/heavy feeling in my ear

I went to the doc yesterday re pain relief (which he offered ototoxic medicine - I refused ). He looked inside my ear drum and said there was scarring on it and would potentially have issues hearing with it in years to come . I’m really worried and have made an audiology appointment for Friday to get them to check it and advise (probably a waste of time but really feel I need to do something about this).

Has anyone experienced this or been told they have scarring on their ear drum? I’m hoping to god this pain will subside - thinking of homeopathy remedies if anyone can recommend anything?

Thank you so much - I appreciate any replies as I understand how we’re all ‘hanging on’ together! xx

 

It's probably tympanosclerosis... I have this on my right ear drum. Basically calcium plaque deposits in the eardrum, often seen in people who had ear infections as a kid. Not much can be done, nor to worry about it... it just stiffens up the ear drum but can cause a small conductive loss in some cases.

 

did you get a second opinion?

 

My mother was told she had horrendously scarred eardrums. She has some hearing loss but zero tinnitus if that is any help.

 

That happens to people who had an eardrum rupture and then sometimes it gets scarred when it heals. It is common in people who had painful ear infections as kids, and may result into conductive hearing loss

 

Do you know what caused the scarring? Thanks.

 

Childhood ear infections.

 

Thank you Juan for your reply! I’ve never had an ear infection but definitely noise trauma so I suspect it’s from that...

 

I have an Audiology appointment this Friday, hope it’s nothing too grim to report!!!

 

Thank you for your reply @frischky

 

I dont think you can get your eardrum scarred as a result of noise trauma, unless there is an eardrum rupture

 

Thank you @Juan. I’ve absolutely no idea what is going on with my ears right now but due to see the Audiologist on Friday and hoping he can at least shed some (positive) light! Thank you for your advice & help xx

 

@Vicki14 Sorry for bringing up an old post but did you get the scarring issue resolve? What did your ENT or audiologist say about it?

 

Hi there, I had gromits as a child which resulted in my right ear drum scaring which has caused slight dampening of sound. Only about 3/4 dBs difference to my left ear.

 

Hi there,

I was also recently told that I had some scarring on my right eardrum and was just as worried and confused as you are since I’ve only ever had about two ear infections in my entire life. Apparently conditions such as ETD or TMJ issues can cause scarring on the eardrum and those are two issues I have that I can attribute to the cause of my eardrum scarring.

Just wanted to let you know that you aren’t alone and not much can be done. Best you can do is take care of your ears as much as possible!

 

Vickie14--thank you so much for your post. I hope you have since found at least some relief and/or have habituated to your new normal.

I was dx'd with tinnitus in 2001, largely due to playing drums in a rock band for years without hearing protection. Needless to say I've been a staunch advocate for hearing protection since my dx. Anyhow, recently my new PCP, a DOM who incidentally had had tinnitus for decades, informed me that my right ear drum is scarred. That was one month ago. Oddly, since then, I've experienced random, faint aching in my right ear along with a low pitched hum that lasts a couple minutes. I haven't seen an ENT in over 10 years, as I habituated to my tinnitus ring up until three or four months ago. Now I have tinnitus in my left ear, which, has balanced me out, you could say. I see my new EMT next week and I will be taking my event log with me and, by default, a little hope as well—but not too much, haha.

Again, thank you for your post and those who have responded, as collectively you all have made me feel less alone with this invisible disability.

 

Tommy5oh5, hello.

I’m the same. I have had tinnitus 26 years but had habituated...

Mine also magnified nearly five months ago along with sound sensitivity.

 

How could ETD and TMJ cause scarring? Thanks.