What is purpose of getting tubes put into ears? Anyone had this done?
September 1, 2008 - 12:39pm
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My friend's daughter is having tubes put into her ears. What is this for? Is it painful, and how long are these tubes in place?
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Tubes are inserted into a child's ear to help drain fluid that has built up behind a child’s eardrums. The purpose of the procedure is to restore the normal functioning of the ear. The NIH says the most common reason for performing this surgery is when fluid continues to build up behind a child's eardrum for 4 months or longer, and there is hearing loss or the risk for developmental problems. After this procedure, the NIH reports that most parents report fewer ear infections, faster recovery from infections, and less worrying about whether their children have ear infections.
If ear infections return after the first tubes fall out, the procedure can be repeated with another set of ear tubes.
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My daughter had tubes put in her ears within the past year. She had 6 or 7 ear infections in a row before the surgery. Even though she had just finished up a round of antibiotics, the doctor said he found she had an ear infection WHEN he did the surgery!
The hardest part about it was that she didn't know what was going on and was very scared. The good thing is the surgery was extremely quick. She was a little out of it and tired for a couple of hours, but by the afternoon she was pretty much back to normal.
She actually had 2 ear infections after the surgery, but the doctor says the tubes helped lessen the severity of the infection and she only needed ear drops vs. oral antibiotics. Since then, knock on wood, she had had no ear infections.
We noticed a remarkable improvement in her pronunciation of words pretty quickly and her vocabulary expanded tremendously in only a week's time. It was truly amazing.
I am 26 years old, and I had tubes put in this morning...I was not put under for the operation and it was much more painful then I anticipated...highly recommend going under for the ordeal. I experienced pain like a bad ear-ache for about 3 hours after the operation as well and now my ears just feel plugged-up......
I am 43 years old and have had tubes put in 5 times as an adult. The longest amount of time was for 9 years. These were extended term tubes. I have chronic problems with fluid build-up. Without the tubes I wouldn't hear anything. I am put under for any surgery because there is so much scar tissue build-up in my ears. There is minimal pain after the surgery, basically a full feeling in my ears. Hope this helps.