It’s day surgery and you can return to work 24 hours later.
After surgery, keep the ears dry with ear plugs for swimming, bathing and showering until the tubes come out. This can be up to 12 months.
If ear discharge (pus or liquid running out of the ears) happens any time in the year after surgery, start antibiotic ear drops within 24 hours.
What is this for and is it effective?
The tubes are a temporary replacement for the normal function of the Eustachian tube. This is the tube that runs from the back of the nose to the middle ear. The tube opens to allow air to pass into the middle ear and equalise the middle ear pressure.
Tubes are helpful for people who have:
- frequent painful middle ear infections (acute otitis media),
- hearing loss due to fluid in the middle ear (otitis media with effusion or glue ear),
- retracted/damaged ear drums due to low middle ear pressure (atelectatic ear disease or cholesteatoma),
- ear pain during aeroplane flights (barotrauma or pressure trauma).