simscott

Long time lerker. I have chronic sinus issues and problems equalizing ear pressure on occasion causing discomfort. Has anyone dealt with this? Or had pressure equalization tubes implanted?

rickair7777

Mine aren't bad enough to be an issue in aviation but I had issues doing diving. I did so many valsalva manuevers in diving that by the time I got around to aviation I think I had stretched my tubes out, never had any real issues in aviation that a valsalva can't fix, even if my sinuses are congested.

Try doing a lot of valsalvas for practice. If you can free dive to the bottom of the deep end of a pool and easily clear on the way down (without having to stop and decrease depth) you're probably OK for aviation.

But if your issue isn't consistent might want consider the tubes. If you get a bad squeeze and blow out an eardrum you might have trouble holding a medical. If you can't clear diving, you just come back up but in aviation you have to go down eventually. I've known people who had the tubes put in, seems to work for them.

Excargodog

According to legend, the Stuka pilots in North Africa with the Afrika Korps had chronic problems with colds, and in a dive bomber without pressurization it was devastating. Eventually the Luftwaffe docs just did myringotomies - putting a hole in each of their eardrums - then cauterized the edges to keep them from closing. It solved the problem at the cost of a little hearing loss and was considered a good trade off, so tubes for ear blocks would certainly work. Don’t know if it would be at all helpful for your sinuses, but there are surgical procedures for that too I guess.