This would mean that your child would not need an operation. Taking out the adenoids may help the glue ear get better, and your surgeon may want to do this at the same time as putting grommets in.Ī hearing aid can sometimes be used to treat the poor hearing and speech problems that are caused by glue ear. Using a nasal balloon to open the tube to the ear may help older children if used regularly. Alternative treatments, such as cranial osteopathy are not helpful. Antibiotics, antihistamines and decongestants do not help this type of ear problem. Steroid nasal sprays may help some children if they have nasal allergy Congestion in the nose caused by allergy may affect the normal function of the nose and ears. You may wish to ask your own GP to arrange a second opinion with another specialist. He or she will not mind arranging this for you. If you would like to have a second opinion about the treatment, you can ask your specialist. You may change your mind about the operation at any time, and signing a consent form does not mean that your child has to have the operation. We may need to put more grommets in to last until your child grows out of the problem. This happens to one child out of every three who has grommets put in. If we do put in grommets, the glue ear may come back when the grommet falls out. If it is causing problems with poor hearing, poor speech or lots of infections, it may be better to put grommets in. If the glue ear is not causing any problems, we can just wait for it to settle by itself. After three months, we will see your child again and decide whether we need to put in grommets. We like to leave children alone for the first three months, because about half of them will get better in this time. Glue ear tends to get better by itself, but this can take a while. They may stay in for six months, or a year, or sometimes even longer in older children. Grommets fall out by themselves as the eardrum is constantly growing. The procedure takes between ten and twenty minutes. The grommet is then placed in the opening in the eardrum. A small opening is made in the eardrum using a microscope to magnify the area and the fluid is sucked out of the ear with a fine sucker.
The operation is carried out down the ear canal so there are no cuts to see on the outside of the ear. The grommets are placed in the eardrum under a short general anaesthetic and the procedure is usually performed as a day case admission to hospital. We only need to treat it if it is causing problems with hearing or speech, or if it is causing lots of ear infections. Most young children will have glue ear at some time, but it doesn’t always cause problems. We don’t know exactly what causes glue ear. It is very common in young children, but it can happen in adults too. Some people get fluid behind the eardrum. Grommets are very small plastic tubes, which sit in a hole in the eardrum.
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