Self-inflicted negative pressure of the external ear canal: a rare cause of tympanic membrane perforation
Yasin Sarıkaya1, Mehmet Karataş1, Sedat Doğan1, Cem Bayraktar1, Osman Halit Çam2
1Adıyaman Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Kulak Burun Boğaz Anabilim Dalı, Adıyaman, Türkiye
2Özel Delta Hastanesi Kulak Burun Boğaz Bölümü, İstanbul, Türkiye
Keywords: Digital trauma, perforation, self-inflicted, tympanic membrane.
Abstract
Tympanic membrane (TM) perceives and amplifies sound, and transmits the information to the brain. Tympanic membrane perforation means loss of TM’s integrity due to various reasons including penetrating or blunt traumas, sudden changes in pressure, excessive acoustic energy changes or otitis media and it may result from application of negative pressure to TM through external ear canal with fingers. Herein, we present two patients with self-inflicted traumatic TM perforations and discuss management of this rare entity in the light of literature.