Common Causes, Symptoms & Care for a Bruised Eardrum

Bruised eardrums are an injury caused by trauma or improper cleaning of the ear. Sonic trauma (like an explosion or sustained, high-decibel noises) and physical trauma (like a punch to the side of the head) can both causing bruising of the ear and eardrum. Car accidents are also a common cause of ear trauma.

Cauliflower ear, which is a buildup of fluid in the outer ear, can also lead to bruising.

Common Symptoms of Bruised Eardrum

The symptoms of a bruised eardrum are somewhat similar to a perforated eardrum—with the exception of sudden relief from an earache. Sudden loss of an earache is more likely to be caused by a perforation than a bruised eardrum.

If you experience the following symptoms, see your local ENT doctor quickly:

• Trouble picking up background noise
• Mild or incomplete hearing loss
• Bleeding or discharge of fluid
• Tinnitus, or ringing in the ear
• Dizziness or vertigo
• Difficulty keeping your balance

What to Avoid If Your Eardrums Could Be Bruised

Keep your ears dry, so avoid swimming. To prevent water from getting into your ears while showering, insert cotton balls into your ear. You can also seal them with petroleum jelly if you’re concerned about water getting past the cotton balls.

Whatever you do, do not insert cotton swabs into your ears to clean them. Using q-tips or other tools to clean your ears could turn a bruise into a puncture. Your ears might be filled with fluid, but it’s better to let a doctor handle your ear care rather than risking the health of your ears.

Treatment

Thankfully, bruised eardrums should heal on their own. If you experience symptoms for longer than two weeks, consider seeing a Florida ENT doctor to check up on you. While healing, avoid exposure to allergens, cigarette smoke, and blowing your nose—blowing your nose alters the pressure of your inner ear and causes discomfort.

4 Things Everyone Can do to Reduce Their Risk of Pneumonia

While the warm temperatures here in sunny Florida make it more difficult for us Floridians to catch pneumonia, even we aren’t immune to the disease. Each year, 1 million Americans seek the care of a hospital for pneumonia, while 50,000 people will die from the disease. As we approach cold, flu, and pneumonia season, we’re sharing a few ways you can best recognize and avoid pneumonia.

Recognizing Pneumonia

Because pneumonia often mimics other diseases, it can be hard to tell if what you’re suffering from is actually the disease. Below are a few of the tell-tale signs of pneumonia:

• Persistent, high fever
• Severe coughing 
• Yellow or brown, thick mucus
• Shortness of breath 
• Chest pains 

Reducing Your Risk of Pneumonia 

Quit smoking. 
People who smoke are more likely to have a more compromised immune system, making them more likely to get pneumonia, as well as the common cold and flu.

Wash your hands. 
Aside from after going to the bathroom, when else do you wash your hands? For most people, the answer is almost never. In addition to after going to the bathroom, you should wash your hands before you eat and when you get home. This will help prevent the spread of viruses.

Avoid people with respiratory issues. 
It makes sense that you’d want to avoid people with pneumonia, but the disease can also be spread from people who have a cold, the flu, or a respiratory infection.

Avoid people with the chickenpox or measles. 
If you haven’t already had chickenpox or measles, or received the vaccine for each, you should avoid people who have the disease.

With locations in Orlando and Kissimmee Florida, Florida ENT is dedicated to the complete medical care of your lungs, nose, throat, and sinuses. To learn more about our sinus institute, give us a call at 407-944-3340.

How it Works: RADIESSE Volumizing Fillers

Do you want to get rid of a few lines around your mouth and nose? I think most of us in our 30s and 40s would be quick to say "yes," but procedures like facelifts and BOTOX injections can be costly and more extreme solutions. But luckily for you, there are other options! RADIESSE volumizing fillers improve the look of wrinkles, creases, and scars by boosting your skin’s natural collagen supply.

What can RADIESSE do for me? 

• RADIESSE fillers can improve the look of a number of areas of your face and body. RADIESSE volumizing fillers can: 
• Correct scars that have left impressions. 
• Lift sagging jowls. 
• Eliminate chin wrinkles. 
• Reduce facial creases and laugh lines. 

Why choose RADIESSE? 

• RADIESSE stimulates the production of your own, natural collagen, so it's safe and effective. 
• Results are proven to last for at least a year in most patients. 
• RADIESSE is FDA-approved. 

What can I expect during the procedure?

Before RADIESSE fillers are injected, your doctor will clean and sterilize the injection site. Your doctor will them mix RADIESSE with anesthetic lidocaine (which is also FDA approved) to make the injections more comfortable. RADIESSE injections take only 15 minutes to inject and are considered an outpatient procedure with little-to-no downtime.

Am I a candidate for RADIESSE? 

Though most people are good candidates for the procedure, there are a few people who do not qualify. RADIESSE injections should not be performed on people who:

• Are allergic to any of the components found in RADIESSE. 
• Have a history of severe allergies. 
• Have a bleeding disorder. 
• Are pregnant or breastfeeding. 
• Are allergic to lidocaine. 

Improve your appearance and boost your confidence with the help of RADIESSE volumizing fillers. Schedule your consultation with Dr. Han of Florida ENT today by calling 1 (877) 327-6673!

6 Ways to De-stress Your Life (in Honor of Stress Awareness Day)

A 2016 national survey reported that Americans are more stressed than ever, with roughly 75 percent of adults reporting feeling moderate to high levels of stress on a regular (at least once a month) basis. It’s statistics like this that encouraged the International Stress Management Association (ISMA) to create Stress Awareness Day — a day dedicated to raising awareness of the negative mental and physical effects stress has on people, as well as ways to reduce stress levels.

This year, we’re celebrating Stress Awareness Day (which falls on November 1) by sharing a few ways you can reduce the amount of stress in your life.

1. Limit caffeine. We all love the morning jolt we get from coffee and energy drinks, but those caffeinated drinks don’t love our body back. Too much caffeine can exacerbate stress levels and leave you feeling overwhelmed.

2. Get a full night’s sleep. We know you’ve heard it all before, but sleep really is so important for your overall health. Lack of sleep is a significant cause of stress, so try to get your eight hours. But if it’s stress that’s causing you to lose sleep, and not the other way around, try combating that by sleeping in a cool, tranquil environment that’s free of electronics and distractions.

3. Fall in love with exercising. We know it’s easier said than done, but exercise is a wonderfully healthy way to cut down on stress. Exercising has also been shown to help people fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer (we’re looking at you, tip #2).

4. Practice deep breathing. Deep breaths fill your lungs, heart, and brain with oxygen, which encourages your body to relax. Once your body has relaxed, your mind will follow.

5. Keep a diary. No, not the kind you had when you were younger, a stress diary. Writing about your stress will help you to:

• De-stress in that very moment.
• Learn about what causes your stress and help you to avoid it in the future. 

6. Learn that it’s okay to say “No.” All too often we hear that people are afraid of saying no. But think of it like this, when you say “yes” to one thing, like working late, you say “no" to a bunch of other things, like spending time with your family or getting a good night’s sleep. So before you say “yes” to something and potentially pile too much on your plate, think about if you actually have the time, money, energy, and desire to do it.

Florida Ear Nose Throat & Facial Plastic Surgery Center, located in Orlando, FL, is an otolaryngology and facial plastics practice committed to providing our patients with the highest quality and personal care, as well as most advanced technology by a Harvard trained, double boarded facial plastic and head and neck surgeon.