removing ear tube without anesthesia

[Anonymous]

Checking this forum to see if anyone has had experience removing their child's ear tube(s) without anesthesia. My 4-year-old son had his tubes inserted over 2 years ago. One has fallen out on his own but one is going to need to be removed surgically. Our ENT is insisting that general anesthesia is necessary for the procedure, but I have read that older children and adults get tubes inserted with only local anesthesia. I feel like the removal process must be easier than the insertion process and no more painful, so if you can insert them without the anesthesia you can certainly remove them (especially if it is just one). Unless it is extremely painful, I would just rather do it without anesthesia and not put my child under again (this would be his third time) given the research on anesthesia and neurological problems in young children. I know he would need to be straight-jacketed for the procedure and it would not be "fun" at all, but I still would rather endure this than always wonder about the long-term effects of the anesthesia. Has anyone worked with a pediatric ENT who has been willing to remove a tube with only local anesthesia? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

It's a painful procedure and the child will NOT keep still. No doctor will remove an ear tube without putting the child to sleep.

[Anonymous]

I had it done as an adult (I still get chronic ear infections in my 30's). It literally took a few seconds but it is so incredibly painful you do not want to put a child through that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had it done as an adult (I still get chronic ear infections in my 30's). It literally took a few seconds but it is so incredibly painful you do not want to put a child through that.

Do you eat dairy?

[Anonymous]

Removal done at age 5, in the office, no anesthesia, it was uncomfortable for my child to hold still but there was no pain and it took less than 5 minutes

[Anonymous]

I've had more than 10 sets of ear tubes, and whether you need local or general is a case-by-case, person-by-person determination. Some ENTs will do local anesthesia to insert and remove for older children and adults; others, including one of the most highly recommended practices in DC, find it so rare that local is a good option that they will not do it for anyone. FWIW, I highly recommend the general for everything. It is incredibly painful, and can be even more painful than it was when local was more used (70s and 80s) based on the newer types of tubes that are available.

[Anonymous]

7:15-- can you give me the name of your doctor? thanks.

[Anonymous]

A lot depends on the tube's position. Is it just dangling and can be "tweezed" out, or is it stuck in the drum?

I am going to assume its the latter--in which case you should seek a second opinion.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes they are just sitting in the ear canal - that I think is fine without GA or even local anesthesia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes they are just sitting in the ear canal - that I think is fine without GA or even local anesthesia.

OP said it needs to be surgically removed. I've had one taken out that was just "dangling" and it was NBD. Surgical removal from the eardrum required general anesthesia.

[Anonymous]

In the canal and still in the drum are totally different. In the canal should always be removable without anesthesia but in the drum can't be done with local and requires general. While it's easily possible to use phenol or other local agents to anesthetize the drum to put it in, that's not the case for removal.