Originally Posted by AirBear

There's a procedure called a Tympanoplasty where a piece of skin from the ear is used to patch a hole in the eardrum. At least they used it in 1985, not sure about now.

In Air Force UPT around 1981 I was training in the unpressurized T-37. Doing spins with rapid altitude loss I was unable to clear my right ear due to all the air escaping out my left ear. I had to wedge my hand under my form fitted helment and plug my left ear. That left me with no hands to fly with when doing the Valsalva manuever.

I went to the Flight Surgeon and he said probably just a slight cold, don't worry about it. This fortunate because it could have medically washed me out. T-38's were pressurized to a cabin of 14K so I didn't have the problem. Then I went on to fly C-130's so no issue there either. Then one day I checked my squadron "V" file and found orders to be a T-37IP at Laughlin AFB in Del Rio, TX. Probably the least favorite UPT location. This started a medical fisaco that drug on for months after an unsucessful Tympanoplasty at the Army Hospital in FAY. I had to see the regional ENT Doc at Andrews AFB, then eventually the Chief ENT Doc in the entire USAF at Lackland AFB. He finally figured out that I had a "trap door" that would open/close that caused inconsistent readings when they pressure tested my eardrums. He said it wasn't worth surgery to fix so I got him to write me a waiver limiting me to Tanker/Transport/Bomber aircraft only. That kept me in C-130's.