Anyone ever have tubes placed in their ears?

It has been offered to me by the doc as one of the options I have available for this ear issue I've been dealing with.
I don't know if it will be a big deal with the FAA or not, I couldn't get in touch with anyone today.

If someone has had to deal with this I would be glad to hear about it!

Thanks!

 

I had ear tubes as a little kid due to ear infection and the resulting burst ear drums. I hadn't had any ear issues until I joined a fraternity and moved into an 80 year old house with mold and mildew issues.

While seeing an ear nose and throat doctor, the prospect of getting ear tubes again was brought up. I asked him how it would affect my chances of getting a medical. He told me that he's given several pilots ear tubes and they haven't reported any difficulties with getting medicals. I'm not sure what class of medical they were trying to get, so I recommend still asking an AME.

Fortunately I found a remedy of FAA approved allergy medicines that help treat the symptoms that led to my ear infections, so I avoided the ear tubes.

I don't know the reasons for your ear issues, but if you can find some other FAA approved way of treating the issue, I'd suggest considering that course of action as well.

Good luck with getting the issue fixed, there's not much more annoying or painful than having an ear infection and all you want to do is go fly.

 

Thanks...yea it's no fun!

For anyone else in this situation, I talked to ALPA aeromedical and the doctor I spoke to there didn't see an issue with getting it done. He did caution that some AMEs might not know the ruling exactly and might be hesitant in issuing a medical. If that's the case you should have the AME contact the regional flight surgeon to clarify the issue.

I'm still deciding if I want to do it or not.

 

hi iam from Asia and working in Asia
it would be v nice if u could let us know what kinda ear problms u have got, just to help u better on this....
i had a tube in my right ear last june and renewed my medical with that and got a class one, my AME never asked anything about it...i had the tube because of difficulty in equalizing on decent...
u will definitly need to take v good care of ur ear if u have the tube...if u dont let any water in the ear it wont cause any problm...just use an ear plug when u take showers and keep the ear dry...thats all u need and vissit a doc once a month to have a chek on the tube...

gud luk

 

Hey...
I had tubes put in my ears last August. I had so many problems prior to that and now nothing. I have had a couple complications but nothing serious at all. The biggest one is sometimes when I yawn I can hear the tube moving, no pain, not any problem at all. The doc said it was normal because my ears "try to reject" the tube. I believe it has definately been worth it. I went to an AME last November to renew my 1st class, he asked...were you put on any medications for the tubes? Simple answer...No.

 

BOAI77, it was as a result of an ear infection. Most of which has cleared up now but there is still some fluid behind the ear drum.

The ENT advised that if I could stay on the ground for a while instead of putting the tubes in, it would be better. I'm favoring that more right now, I really don't want to have surgery for only one ear infection.

Although from what Connectionpilot says, it doesn't seem that bad to actually have them!

 

Its not that bad at all. Just consult your doctor about negatives and positives.

 

Connectionpilot,
what was the actual procedure like for you?
Did it take long? Was it painful? How is the anastethic applied?
Were you able to go back to work right away?

Ok, no more questions!!

 

Feel free to ask away, I asked the same questions.
-My doctor had me on a table and had me turn my head. He then numbed my eardrum. Then poked a hole and put the tube in. Each ear took about 3 mins.
-Painful? ehhh, yea it can be, but only for two 10 second times and thats when he pokes the hole in your eardrum. Sounds more painful than it really is. The anesthetic does its job.
I did it on my days off and the next day I flew back to MSP for work, had no problems at all.

 

Thanks for the info Connectionpilot!