NFL Player Derrick Coleman Has Been Deaf Since Childhood [video]

Derrick Coleman, who plays fullback for the Seattle Seahawks, was born with a genetic mutation that  caused his deafness since he was a toddler. Even with powerful hearing aids, he still needs to lip-read in order to understand what is being said. [link]

Although the exact genetic mutation is not known thru media reports, it is most likely a connexin 26 mutation which is the most common genetic cause for early onset hearing loss and can be tested for through a simple blood draw. He is also probably a candidate for cochlear implants, but given the high impact nature of his profession, it is was likely a good decision he did not get one due to breakage concerns.

Just FYI... with cochlear implants, his hearing could potentially be restored back to normal.

Obviously, he has had to work even harder to make it into the NFL with his legally deaf ears.

Watch this Duracell commercial about his hearing loss.

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Medical Translator Commercial...

I'm sure many patients would like a medical translator like this one shown in this humorous commercial. In case you haven't seen it yet...

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Some Facts About Q-Tips and Ears

In this week's episode of "Girls" (Season 2; Episode 9 "Girls Gets Dark"), Hannah grappling with OCD, inserted a Q-tip deep into her ear canal and "heard air hiss out the hole" due to perforating her eardrum.

Although this scene came out of a TV show, this scenario is not uncommon and results in many ENT office visits every month for not only eardrum perforations, but bleeding due to trauma to the ear canal skin.

Some facts about Q-tips as it relates to the ear...

It should never be used to clean earwax within the ear canal. In fact, on Unilever's website (the maker of Q-tips), the company explicitly states that Q-tips should only be used to "gently around the outer ear, without entering the ear canal." [link]

In fact, the word "ear" appears less than a dozen times on the entire Q-tip website.

Apparently, Q-tips are meant for many other uses beyond ears which play only a very small role in the world of Q-tips.

• Cleaning tiny spaces in ventilator grates
• Applying polishes to silverware
• Dust picture frames
• Clean keyboards and the computer screen
• Applying wood stain
• Clean tracks and grooves of medicine cabinets
• Clean small compartments of washing machines
etc, etc, etc

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Does WaxVac or EarVac Actually Remove Earwax?

The EarVac or WaxVac is a device that purportedly suctions out earwax. Shaped like a miniature hair dryer, one simply needs to hold it up to your ear canal in order to suction out the earwax. Recently, they have been marketing this device heavily, especially through TV commercials.

Now, does it actually work???

Not really... In fact, British researchers tested it out against the humble ear curette (Jobson-Home Probe). With their test population, the WaxVac worked in exactly ZERO percent of patients. The ear curette worked 100% of the time to restore eardrum visibility and 88% for subjective hearing improvement for the patient.

Why would the WaxVac work so poorly?

Think of a handheld vacuum cleaner. Even for a regular vacuum cleaner, it will only suck up debris only when it is right on top of it. One can't "vacuum" out a bedroom simply by holding the vacuum cleaner at the bedroom door entrance or hovering it around in the bedroom. The vacuum needs to be placed DIRECTLY over debris in order to suction it out.

Well, the same goes for the WaxVac.

Even when the ear canal is professionally vacuumed by an ENT under the microscope, it only works with some earwax types... and doesn't work at all for other earwax types.

I also wanted to point out the danger of using an WaxVac which has the potential to create high negative pressures when sealed up against the ear canal entrance which could lead to eardrum perforation as well as permanent hearing loss (similarly to kissing ear syndrome).

As such, I personally do not recommend this product. However, should you decide to purchase it, I would strongly urge people to do their homework before buying this unproven device. Even if it did work, beware that the company seems to make their money by scamming people with shipping charges [link]. 

Reference:

A non-randomized comparison of earwax removal with a 'do-it-yourself' ear vacuum kit and a Jobson-Horne probe. Clin Otolaryngol. 2005 Aug;30(4):320-3.


Watch how earwax is cleaned at an ENT office video.

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TV Show HOUSE Exploring ENT Problems

I must clarify that I never really like TV show House for reasons explained here... but patients who love watching House have alerted me to some episodes this season that touched on ENT problems.

So... here goes...

Episode 21 (Season 8): Holding On
Diagnosis: Persistent Stapedial Artery

19 years old cheerleader was admitted after suffering from dizziness, massive nosebleed, and auditory hallucinations. It was ultimately determined that he was suffering from a persistent stapedial artery.

This artery is a congenital defect of the inner ear that should have obliterated during fetal development. However, if persistent, is typically found going through the stapes bone of the middle ear.

It CAN cause symptoms of dizziness as the pulsations of the artery can transmit through the stapes footplate and into the vestibule via the oval window. It can also cause auditory hallucinations by pressing against the nearby temporal lobe as well as a nosebleed. If the artery ruptures, it can only drain through the eustachian tube and out the nose.

However, if the patient presented to the ER with nosebleed and dizziness, a complete physical exam would have been performed and a clearly seen blood-filled middle ear cavity (hemotympanum) would have been seen that even a medical student would have found. That would have indicated an ear issue causing both the dizziness and nosebleed. Also, the patient would have complained of hearing loss with blood in the ear.

From that point, the differential diagnosis is actually quite small and would have been obtained relatively easily.

Episode 17 (Season 8): We Need The Eggs

Diagnosis: Amoebic Meningitis

35 years old man admitted to House’s service after he is discovered crying blood. He later develops light sensitivity, vomiting, and a stiff neck.

After suspecting meningitis, it was discovered that he was using a Neti Pot and was using tap water rather than distilled or sterilized water in order to perform saline flushes. The water happened to contain an amoeba (likely Naegleria fowleri) which caused an amoebic infection of the brain.  The culprit organism Naegleria fowleri causes a life-threatening encephalitis after passing thru the nose and up into the brain where the organism eats neurons for food.

Such brain infections have been recently reported in the news and can be prevented by using water that is boiled, distilled, or filtered.

Fortunately, it is rare.

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TV Show SMASH Portrays Ivy With Vocal Issues

In last night's episode (Episode 106: Chemistry) of the new hit TV drama SMASH, the main character Ivy who plays Marilyn Monroe in the show developed laryngitis that affected her ability to sing clearly, especially in the high registers. However, her speaking voice did sound normal.

To treat this condition, she was given prednisone which did help her voice, but suffered unfortunate side effects of mood lability, hallucinations, insomnia, etc.

Did the show accurately portray what actually happens in real life?

Yes...

Laryngitis

Ivy probably did suffer laryngitis, but more in the sense of pre-nodule formation (otherwise known as vocal cord swelling) from vocal overuse given how much singing she has been doing. With such "pre-nodule" formation, the singer is able to sound perfectly normal when talking, but suffers from pitch breaks and onset delays in the high range, especially when singing quietly. Watch a video and audio demonstrating this phenomenon.

I should also point out that this problem is also under-recognized by medical professionals including ENTs... When such singer/patients with vocal cord swelling present complaining of hoarseness, they sound normal... talk normal... and for all intensive purposes seem to be making up their perceived raspy voice.

A simple test to demonstrate vocal cord swelling is to have the singer sing a song at a high pitch (octave above middle C), but to sing the song very quietly. I typically have patients sing Happy Birthday. Listen for any vocal quality problems.

Even though the vocal issue is only in the high range, for professional (and amateur) singers, such "minor" vocal raspiness is a HUGE problem. Consider this... if this patient is singing a solo for a performance where there's several hundred people in the audience... it's hard enough to sing a solo just from nervousness. Now add the concern that you have no idea what your voice is going to do in that one part of the song where it goes high. Confidence is key to a good performance and with an undependable voice, confidence is lost and the performance overall suffers.

Prednisone

Is prednisone really as good as the show suggests? Yes... including the side effects, though they did stretch the side effects some.

Typically steroids provide almost immediate (within 4-12 hours) resolution of vocal cord swelling and inflammation. Problem is, it only works for a short period of time.

I typically prescribe decadron rather than prednisone as I feel it works faster, better, and more reliably than prednisone. I also prescribe it judiciously.

Judiciously means I prescribe it if there's a single major concert or single audition that is very important to the singer. I typically prescribe a single large dose to be taken the night before.

If it is a singer who is undergoing a series of auditions over a short period of time, I may prescribe a week long course of steroids to maintain its good effects.

The USUAL common side effects are reflux, insomnia, mood lability, and jitteriness. However, for those who are sensitive to medications can suffer many of the side effects experienced by Ivy.

NOW... for the problem with steroids beyond the side effects... Its effects are temporary and the better way of treating vocal cord swelling is behavioral changes as one can't just keep prescribing steroids indefinitely. It is much like giving morphine to a football player to mask the pain of a sprained ankle so he can still keep playing football. MORE vocal injury can occur while taking the steroids!

With steroids, I usually also recommend restricted voice use (strict voice use is even better). What this means is talk ONLY when you MUST talk and with low energy if you do. NO social talking, no whispering, no yelling, no raising voice, etc. Strict voice rest is when you are not even talking at all.

Also, work with a singing voice therapist.

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The Doctors TV Show Does Adenoidectomy

Dr. Nina Shapiro was the featured otolaryngologist when The Doctors television show discussed nasal congestion as well as large adenoids. A sanitized view of adenoid removal surgery was also shown.

For a more detailed view of the surgery, click here.

For more info on adenoids and its surgical removal, click here.

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Dr. House of TV Fame Would Never Survive in Real World

Would YOU as the patient see a doctor who is a well-known jerk, abuses drugs, gives the wrong diagnosis more often than not, and is known to like ordering very invasive tests??? Be honest...

The other week, a patient with a chronic cough exclaimed to me that she wished the fictional character Dr. House of TV fame actually existed in real life, because he was somebody who can diagnose anything.

I looked her straight in the eye and told her that somebody like Dr. House in the real world would be a physician nobody would want to see for many reasons:

1. In the real world, patients expect doctors to have the correct diagnosis from the beginning (might forgive one wrong diagnosis). Dr. House seems to always get things wrong multiple times before he gets it right. I seriously doubt most patients would have stuck around as long as they do on the TV shows before going elsewhere.
2. In order to achieve that correct diagnosis, Dr. House seems to pursue invasive tests which in reality is something patients rarely like to pursue... and often get second opinions to determine if really needed.
3. Dr. House is fairly abrasive with his colleagues and even with his own patients which pretty much guarantees one star ratings on physician rating websites like HealthGrades.com and Vitals.com.
4. Dr. House is addicted to vicodin, morphine, and cocaine... That pretty much guarantees loss of hospital privileges and perhaps even his medical license to practice in the real world. Furthermore, what would you do as a patient if you found out that your doctor abuses drugs??? Most will go elsewhere.

So given what I know patients want in reality, it boggles my mind why patients in the real world think Dr. House is so great and wish a fictional character like him truly existed.

To flip things around... the real question is why aren't real world patients more forgiving of physician fallibility like those on TV? I'm the first to admit that physicians (in the real world) are not perfect though the expectation is that we are.

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The Doctors TV Show Does Chronic Throat Clearing

The Doctors TV show recently did a segment on chronic throat clearing. The ENT expert who explained this very annoying condition was Dr. Reena Gupta, a well-respected laryngologist with the Osborne Head and Neck Institute.

During this TV show, Dr. Gupta provided the two most common reasons for chronic throat clearing which were post-nasal drainage and reflux.

At its most basic explanation, mucus can come from the nose down into the throat (post-nasal drainage) OR mucus can come up from the stomach into the throat (reflux). The end-result is a person desiring to throat clear the mucus up and out.

However, there are other causes which were not addressed by Dr. Gupta during the show.

Other reasons for chronic throat clearing include:

Medication Side Effect
Food Allergies or Sensitivities
Zenker's Diverticulum
Laryngeal Sensory Neuropathy
Anatomic Triggers
PANDAS
Non-Organic Tic

Read more about chronic throat-clearing here.

Watch the TV show segment here.

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