[nayjay]

Hi all,

My DD (4yrs) had her second set of grommets put in at the start of this year. Her speech and hearing improved dramatically for the first couple of weeks but then I noticed that she was struggling to hear and that her speech wasn't as clear again. Our GP checked her ears and said that the grommets are already almost out and that she has a blood blister on one eardrum. She couldn't see the other eardrum clearly but mentioned something about thickening of the eardrum. We are seeing the ENT and audiologist in 2 weeks. I am very worried about long term hearing loss as well as auditory processing issues. Has anyone else experienced similar? What was the outcome?

[morgansacre]

My DD also had grommets as a child, they fell out after 6 months, they assured me they will say in for 12-18 months. They wanted to redo them I refused, because of the of the upset the surgery caused for her before and after.

She never had a problem after, she is now 27.

Lynn

Edited to add: I have had ear infections all my life. My ears got so bad that an infection ate away one ear drum. This has been repaired, but I now have so much scarring from the infection I have hearing loss in both ears, but it's bad in the ear with the bad drum. I guess grommets werent around back then, as it was never mentioned for me.

This post has been edited by morgansacre: 09/02/2013, 09:23 PM

[Super Cat]

DS just turned 7 and is about to go for his 9th set if grommets. He's had numerous hearing tests and everything is working perfectly. Last hearing test was a week ago. His grommets usually last 6 months but he's had one set come out after 3 weeks, one set two months and this set three months.

The grommet is a foreign object and it's the immune systems job to rid the body of foreign objects. As the ear drum heals the grommet can be pushed out, even though it's designed to stay in the drum. Early ejection of the grommet is nothing more than the body healing and rejecting it. It's a total pain but all you can do is arrange for more to be put in.

So, good news and bad news really!

[katrina24]

I'm glad that you have some specialist appointments booked. My dd1 has had 3 sets of grommets. She has considerable scarring on her ear drums. Despite this, her hearing is well within the normal range and her academic progress has been good.

[*Finn*]

Oh man both of my children have had 2 sets each of grommets, thankfully they lasted awhile, that would be terrible having them fall out after a few months.
DS's first set lasted 18months, DD's was 8 months.

[kshy]

DS1 first set lasted 6 weeks, second set lasted 6 months - his hearing is now near perfect

DS2 had his first set at 18months and had to have them surgically removed at almost 6 as they were still in there

[nayjay]

Thank you for your replies. It is great to read that most didn't have hearing loss.

Just wondering - Does the scarring on the eardrums cause pain or other problems?

[Bwok~Bwok]

I'm an adult with grommets.

ENT specialist said there are 3 types of grommets. 1st lot I had lasted 3 months (this was put in to see if my hearing would correct itself) - 2nd lot lasted 6 months (slightly bigger than the first) still no improvement...

I have now got, what they call, permanent grommets - and they are bigger. But they aren't permanent as such. They are designed to last from 12 months to 2 years, or until my body forces them out. I've had these ones in for about 9 months now.