My audi suggested personalised ear moulds and took an impression of my ears. two or three minutes after injecting the material in my right ear I had stabbing pains under my ear. It was also extremely painful when he extracted the mould in my right ear. The left was OK.
Any ideas why this should be?
Probably just as the material hardened it pressed on a portion of the ear canal and this causes some radiating pain down your neck. Shouldn’t be there when the new earmolds come in. I wouldn’t worry about it unless it comes back or gets worse.
Hi pbs
If you wear HA’s regular you will be fairly susceptible to ear infection or soreness via any molds, tis a breeding ground for bacteria! So maybe you had a bit of infection or soreness, I get ear infections all the time, I think this is because my molds are unvented? Although I do use a Dry & Store box, with UV light to kill the bacteria, infections ain’t been as a bad lately! I always get soreness when I get a new set of molds, until I sandpaper them down, but sometimes I’m a wee bit overenthusiastic with the sandpaper and my HA’s will start squealing… Tis a fine line, between comfort and a correct fitting mold!
Cheers Kev.
Thanks for the info Doc. It was very painful until the audi got the plug out of my ear! I am pleasantly surprised by the sound quality of the Widex Clear 440 Fusion compared with the Audeo S Smart IXs that I had.
Hi Kev,
Thanks for the reply. I have just started with HAs. i tried Phonak Audeo S Smart iXs for 3 months before returning them and trying Widex Clear 440 Fusion. BIG improvement in the sound quality but not quite so comfortable to wear - hence the personalised moulds. I will have to get myself kitted out with a Dry & Store.
Regards,
pbs,
I’ve found that the Dry & Store causes the tubing on the ear molds to get hard a little faster than without using it, but the Dry & Store works wonders at keeping moisture at bay in the HA, so it is well worth getting.
Which version? With or without the UV light?
The UV light is nice, but really I find my patients benefit most from the drying aspects. If you have a history of infection in the ear canal the UV light would be a good addition however if you’re main problem is moisture you could save yourself a little money and just get the drying unit.
RE: molding material causing severe pain.
There is supposed to be sufficient cotton inserted before the molding material to shield the membrane (ear drum). Rupture of the tympanic membrane is serious stuff. Ed
Yes, there was a small piece of black sponge ahead of the resin. I don’t think that it has hurt my ear drum as my hearing is still OK but the pain was pretty bad. I think, judging by his colour, it scared the pants off the audi!!
pbs,
A friend of mine had ear impressions made and he had a little blow by of the silicone material past the sponge dam which the ER doctor said it probably made contact with his eardrum, maybe this is what happened to you. Just a another possible theory for the pain.
Could be SEB. The audi did shine a torch down my ear afterwards but he didn’t make any comment. he was pretty shook up about it!! The pain seems to have gone now so here’s hoping.
best regards,
pbs,
My friends Audi was so shook up he drove him to the Emergency Room!
Not quite that bad SEB, but he was getting there!!