j.mackay1: I think you will learn a lot more about otosclerosis, stapedotomy, and stapedectomy by an internet search (especially Wikipedia) than having someone like me trying to explain these subjects. But with regard to my own experiences, here is a short review with very approximate dates:
My mother, and earlier her older sister, and much earlier my grandmother had very poor hearing, which was never diagnosed as otosclerosis, but in hindsight I strongly suspect that’s what it was. About 1980 I started wearing one HA in R ear. R ear hearing got worse, and about 1984 my audiologist suggested seeing otolaryngologist MD based on difference in my bone conduction vs. air conduction R audiogram scores.
Oto MD ( I’d rather not identify specific MDs) said I would benefit from stapedotomy and he represented that risks were low. A training video was made of my surgery (it involved a vein graft, which I think was special at that time). I had local not general anesthetic in order to check my hearing while still on operating table. My hearing improved but not as much as I had hoped and I still needed R HA.
Sometime about 1990 I started wearing L HA. About 1995, tests showed increased bone vs. air conduction in R ear, and Oto MD #2 (who had been partner with Oto MD #1) recommended revision R stapedotomy surgery, which I agreed to because techniques and prosthesis had improved. This improved R ear hearing somewhat but still not great even with R HA. It was explained that otosclerosis usually also includes neural loss.
About 1997, I had stapedotomy surgery in L ear, which seemed to improve hearing more than R ear surgeries (but still needed L HA). BTW, all surgeries after the first involved general anesthetic.
About 2005 - 2015 hearing and especially WRS in R ear degenerated substantially. Oto MD #2 suspected that prosthesis had become loose or disengaged and recommended another R ear revision surgery. That surgery confirmed his suspicion, and my R hearing improved significantly. In spite of my audiogram, my perception is that my R hearing and especially my WRS is much worse than my L hearing.
I hope this long post is somehow helpful. My opinion is that stapedotomy surgery involves some risk, and anyone contemplating this should do their own research and make their own decision. I’m particularly fortunate because my Oto MD #2 is perhaps the best ear surgeon in the world. He spends most of his time training other physicians and doing only more serious surgeries (e.g., reconstructing ears and hearing on children born with substantial deformities).
