If your toddler has a ruptured eardrum, she has an opening in her eardrum (tympanic membrane). This membrane divides the outer ear and the middle ear as well as vibrates when sound waves connect with the ear. There are bones and nerve endings located in your toddler's middle and inner ear which send nerve impulse to her brain. Your child's hearing is affected when her eardrum is ruptured, so learning how to avoid the rupture will save your child from months of pain and frustration.
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Causes
Ear infections are the most common cause of infants obtaining ruptured eardrums due to build up of fluid and pus behind the eardrum. The pressure that this build-up creates, has the potential to increase enough that the eardrum breaks open. Other causes for toddlers to obtain ruptured eardrums include exposure to loud noises, exposure to pressure during flying or driving in high elevations, physical trauma or foreign objects in the ear.
Effects
Rupture to your toddler's ear can cause ear drainage or tinnitus. Pain or discomfort may also be experienced with a ruptured eardrum. Weakness or a lack of balance could occur as well as partial or a total loss of hearing.
Tympanoplasty
Tympanoplasty, a microsurgery that closes the eardrum rupture, may be necessary in some toddlers. This surgery reconstructs the eardrum and can be performed either under local or general anesthesia. The operation can be performed under local anesthesia with intravenous sedation to repair superficial tears. Tympanoplasty involves making an incision into the ear canal. The eardrum is moved away from the ear canal and lifted forward.
Nonsurgical Interventions
It takes about two months for ruptured eardrums that are capable of healing without surgical intervention to heal. There are steps that you can take to increase your child's chances of resolving the rupture with time. Preventing infection and relieving pain are two goals of nonsurgical treatment. Place cotton balls in your child's ears when she has any chance of getting water in her ears.
Placing warm packs on your child's ears may soothe her pain. Do not allow your toddler to go swimming, as she needs to keep her ears dry and over-the-counter pain medications can be used according to manufacturer's dosing instructions. Your child's physician may decide to put a patch over her eardrum to help keep in dry and encourage healing.
Considerations
If your toddler has experienced a prior rupture of his eardrum, he may have a harder time healing from this perforation. Multiple ruptures leads to weakened eardrums and a lower chance of healing without surgical intervention. Persistent infections inhibits the skin from reestablishing continuity of the eardrum and calcium deposits can prevent cells from closing the hole.
