Has anyone tried Balloon Sinuoplasty for blocked eustachian tubes?

Posted by bunnybear @bunnybear, May 2 8:27am

An audiologist told me of a ENT doctor doing Balloon Sinuoplasty to clear the eustachian tube. If anyone has had this procedure, do you recommend it? Did it improve your hearing? Were there any negative side effects?

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dloos | @dloos | May 3 9:48am

I had balloon inflation of my Eustachian tubes about a month ago. My ears have been worse since.
My symptoms were/are:
Clogged feeling ears, muffled hearing
Tinnitus and hyperacusis
I don’t have pain. I wear hearing aids, but they don’t help me much. My hearing issues started after a plane flight and ENT thought I was a good candidate for this surgery to help. Unfortunately, no.
He did say my hearing may continue to change. It is changing, but not for the better. Left ear was, and still is worse.
The procedure itself is no fun, but not terrible. I only had slight bleeding afterward. That cleared quickly. I wish it had helped my hearing.

bunnybear | @bunnybear | May 3 10:45am

In reply to @dloos "I had balloon inflation of my Eustachian tubes about a month ago. My ears have been..." + (show)

My hearing status sounds just like yours except it was a slow onset, steadily getting worse and not following a flight. I was told by several ENT doctors that I needed a stapedectomy but I feared I’d be the one in 100 who suffered total hearing loss as a result so put it off. Then I moved and in 2008 decided to get it done. The new doctor was rated by the local big city magazine as “Best in town”. He told me that I did not need a stapedectomy but needed another procedure called an ossicular chain realignment which involved the malleus and incus. He told me there was no chance of deafness as a result and if my hearing was not perfect afterward, he could go back in to fine tune things. Well, I ended up with 4 surgeries and no benefit to either ear at all. What I did get was tinnitus that sounds like crickets or just a low constant noise. I have been told, years later, by two ENT docs that this was inappropriate for my condition and highly experimental surgery.

dloos | @dloos | May 3 12:27pm

In reply to @bunnybear "My hearing status sounds just like yours except it was a slow onset, steadily getting worse..." + (show)

Oh my. I have seen seven ENTs with no consensus in opinion. I did the balloon inflation because the ENT said it could help, and definitely would not make my ears worse. The last bit of that prediction has proven incorrect.

My original response to the flight was fairly mild. I had no tinnitus or hyperacusis. The muffled hearing was annoying, but not as debilitating as what has developed over the last two years. I guess my condition also has been pretty slow in developing.

I really wish now that I had done nothing. These procedures seem to be pretty iffy.
The doctors I have seen are university associated and highly recommended.