Eardrum perforation is repaired with a procedure called myringoplasty. If the hole is small enough, it can be fixed in-office with a fat or paper patch. A small piece of special paper or gel foam is placed on the hole and temporarily seals it. This encourages the body’s natural healing process and, over time, the hole heals itself and seals permanently.
If the delicate hearing bones (ossicles) have been damaged, they may be repaired at the same time with ossicular chain reconstruction. When these two procedures are combined (myringoplasty and ossicular chain reconstruction) it is called tympanoplasty.
The healing process takes about 4 to 6 weeks.
