What Causes Perilymph Fistula?

A Perilymph Fistula is a leak or tear between the small & thin membranes that divide the air-filled middle ear and the fluid-filled inner ear. The perilymph (fluid) leaks through this small opening. Your balance and healing can be affected by pressure changes in this fluid exchange.

11 Symptoms of Perilymph Fistula are as follows:

• Headaches
• Memory Loss
• Motion Sickness
• Sensitive Hearing
• Ringing in the Ears
• Dizziness or Vertigo
• Fullness in Your Ear
• Sudden Hearing Loss
• Persistent & Mild Nausea
• Hearing Loss That Comes & Goes
• Often a Sense of Being Unbalanced to One Side

Where some experience hardly noticeable & mild signs, others do not experience even a single symptom of Perilymph Fistula. It affects one ear at a time only, and in rare cases, you may detect bilateral perilymph fistulas because of severe head trauma. Also, sneezing, coughing, laughing, experiencing altitude changes, or lifting something heavy can worsen the symptoms of the Perilymph Fistula.

What Are the Potential Causes of Perilymph Fistula?

Head trauma or barotrauma are the two most typical causes of Perilymph Fistula. An injury to your brain, skull, or scalp, as well as a condition that causes ear discomfort due to pressure changes, can be the foremost cause of Perilymph Fistula. While air travel, scuba diving, childbirth, and heavy lifting, changes in extreme pressure are common.

1. Head Trauma

It can be anything from a mild bump or bruise to a traumatic injury to your brain, skull, or scalp. Concussions, skull fractures, and scalp wounds are a few common head injuries that can cause Perilymph Fistula. The treatment for your injury varies for two reasons one how you got injured and severity.

There are possibilities that your nerve that connects the brain & ear will injure due to your head injury. Tests such as hearing tests, balance tests, CT scans, & MRI scans will be helpful to conduct after trauma. It will be beneficial to detect all the side effects and other losses by head trauma.

2. Barotrauma

It is a barotrauma condition when the air pressure changes in the ear and causes ear discomfort. The eustachian tube connects the middle ear to the throat and nose that helps regulate ear pressure. You may experience barotrauma when this tube is blocked.

It is necessary to know the acute (occasional) and chronic (recurring) cases in order to take proper care and treatment at the right time. Dizziness, general ear discomfort, slight hearing loss, hearing difficulty, and stuffiness or fullness in the ear can be acute cases. On the other hand, a long time ear pain, the feeling of pressure in the ears, nosebleed, moderate to severe hearing loss or difficulty, or eardrum injury can be a chronic case. So, act according to your condition and don’t wait for long. Reach your doctor immediately if the pain or irritation in your ear stays longer than a week.

Other than head trauma or barotrauma, potential causes of Perilymph Fistula are as follows:

3. Experiencing Whiplash

A forceful, rapid back-and-forth movement of the neck can cause whiplash injury. The three main reasons for whiplash are auto accidents, physical abuse or assault, and sports-related collisions. You may experience whiplash after some days of the accident or other reason of injury.

The common symptoms of whiplash are neck pain, stiffness, worsening of pain with neck movement, loss of motion in the neck, fatigue, dizziness, headaches, pain in the base of the skull, tenderness or pain in the shoulder, upper back, or arms, and tingling or numbness in the arms.

4. Puncturing Your Eardrum

You may puncture, hole or tear the tissue that separates the ear canal from the middle ear. The loud sounds, a foreign object in the ear, head trauma, a middle ear infection, rapid pressure changes from air travel, etc., are some of the causes of a punctured eardrum.

A few common symptoms of puncturing eardrums are quickly subsiding severe ear pain, drainage, ringing in the ear, or hearing loss. Most probably, the recovery of punctured eardrums is possible within a few weeks. But sometimes, it requires antibiotics, an eardrum patch, or surgery.

5. Being Exposed To Very Loud Sounds

Various sounds like gunfire or sirens can be dangerous to expose really close to your ear. It can lead to noise-induced hearing loss and is a permanent hearing loss. Being around loud noises over a long or short period of time is the highest occurring possibility of such disease.

Some of the common symptoms of noise-induced hearing loss are the inability to hear high-pitched sounds, muffled or distorted speech, tinnitus, a feeling of fullness or pressure in the ear. There are only two solutions for this one is a hearing aid or secondly surgery.

6. Severe or Frequent Ear Infections

You may experience some bacterial or viral infections in your middle ear. Some common symptoms are mild pain, discomfort inside the ear, persistent pressure inside the ear, pus-like ear drainage, or hearing loss. It can be cured easily by various Vertigo home treatments, medical treatments, and even surgery in worse conditions.

7. Blowing Your Nose Very Hard

You may blow your nose very hard, which can cause a condition like barotrauma. There are no such symptoms or treatment as it is not that severe condition. Your nose may swell from inside cured by hot fomentation and some medication.

So, these are the various causes of the Perilymph Fistula. All you need to do is stay alert, and as soon as you have any pain or discomfort in your ear for more than a week, just consult your doctor. Hope, you will find this article beneficial to understand the Perilymph Fistula.