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Oral And Facial Surgery Associates
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Question: Whats the risk of hearing loss and or facial paralysis after mastoid surgery?
Should I try the oral and facial surgery associates?
Answer: 50/50 is absolutely untrue! The intent of mastoid surgery is to remove the chronically infected tissue. The mastoid is complex system of air cells in the bone behind the ear which communicate with the middle ear space behind the ear drum. After leaving the brain, the facial nerve courses through the mastoid bone where it exits just below the ear and then courses through the face to innervate the muscles of facial expression (smile, frown, etc.) If the facial nerve is injured, facial paresis or paralysis can occur which can be temporary or permanent. The risk of injuring the facial nerve during mastoid surgery is quite low but can be minimized even further because of modern technological advances including high powered magnification, new advances in irrigating drills, and most importantly the availability of intra-operative continuous facial nerve monitoring electronically during surgery. In fact, risks of the surgery are the same as if the cholesteatoma is not removed, but occur less frequently. Make sure you do some reasearch on the surgeon that is doing the procedure and if you are uncomfortable you can always get a second opinion or change surgeons
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