Cochlear Implants, Bone Anchored Hearing Aids, Tympanoplasty, Stapedectomy, Ossiculoplasty
The Lippy Group has been at the forefront of surgical hearing restoration since 1960. Whether due to chronic infection, congenital or inherited hearing problems, patients have benefited from the extensive reconstruction experience of our Otologic surgeons. The surgeries performed include eardrum and middle ear bone reconstruction and implants for deafness including the BAHA and cochlear implants.
In surgery of the eardrum some can be repaired via the ear canal and in adults this would be achieved under local anesthesia with sedation. In large perforations of the eardrum an incision needs to be made behind the ear, which is closed cosmetically. These patients would require a general anesthetic, all surgery in children require a general anesthetic.
All tympanoplasties (repair of eardrum) are performed on an outpatient basis. Graft material to reconstruct the eardrum usually comes from an incision made above the ear and under the hairline. Middle ear bone reconstruction (ossiculoplasty, stapedectomy) is done to restore hearing. This is usually done via the ear canal, under local anesthesia with sedation, general anesthesia in young children. We generally use titanium or polycel(special plastic) prostheses for these reconstructions. These are outpatient procedures requiring a short stay in the recovery room.
Patients who are deaf in one ear, were born without an ear (atresia) are helped a great deal by a bone anchored hearing aid (BAHA). This is done under local anesthesia, sedation with an incision made behind the ear. Those patients who have profound hearing loss and not helped by hearing aids are candidate for the cochlear implant which is done as an outpatient. We are implanting the Med-El implant which has the latest processing strategies for hearing.