POSTTRAUMATIC GUITAR-SHAPED DEFORMITY OF THE TYMPANIC MEMBRANE

We report a unique case of post-traumatic guitar-shaped deformity of t he tympanic membrane in an 8-year-old boy. After a traffic accident, h e exhibited bleeding from the ear, incomplete facial palsy and a condu ctive hearing loss on the left side. Although his symptoms gradually i mproved, the deformity of the tympanic membrane and external auditory canal persisted. The tympanic membrane appeared to be duplicated. Care ful examination using an otoscope was required for accurate diagnosis. Without knowledge of the deformity, the physician could easily misint erpret the appearance of the tympanic membrane. Formation of cholestea toma was not observed and the normal migration of the epithelium in th e external auditory canal seemed to be maintained. However, we were co ncerned that tubal dysfunction could eventually induce the retraction and atrophy of the tympanic membrane to ultimately form a cholesteatom a. We therefore recommend patients such as this to be evaluated period ically because of the risk of tubal dysfunction and cholesteatoma. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.