Just Took Some Pics of My Ear Drum and Here's What I Found... Help?

[The Red Viper]

So I have this USB endoscope that I can connect to my phone to take pictures. Here's what I've found in my right ear, the ear that has been giving me fullness/popping issues along with T. I don't know if you can see it, but there's a hair near the lateral process of the malleus. I'll post this full image so you can see it. The hair seems to wrap around and looks like it's touching my ear drum. Not sure if this has been there the whole time or if I just got a random piece of hair stuck in there recently.

 

[The Red Viper]

Here's a pic of my left ear to show the difference.

 

[The Red Viper]

Here's an annotated pic since the resolution is terrible.

 

[squeek]

I'm impressed by the use of a USB endoscope. Great idea.

I had photos taken of my ear drums a few years ago. My tinnitus ear drum was somewhat red due to inflammation, however, there certainly was no black substance. I think you should have a chat with your GP. All GPs will have a otoscope handy.

 

[The Red Viper]

Yea I've had two GPs and two ENTs look into my ear multiple times so I'm not sure if this is just a recent thing. Will definitely go to my ENT with this. I tried using some ear wax cleaning drops to try to flush it out, but it didn't work.

 

[The Red Viper]

I'm impressed by the use of a USB endoscope. Great idea.

I had photos taken of my ear drums a few years ago. My tinnitus ear drum was somewhat red due to inflammation, however, there certainly was no black substance. I think you should have a chat with your GP. All GPs will have a otoscope handy.

Yeah I used this endoscope: https://www.amazon.com/Volador-Bore...=1468812106&sr=1-1&keywords=volador+borescope

That's the smallest diameter (5.5mm) one I could find. Anything smaller will be medical grade, which costs a fortune.

 

[squeek]

Looking at those photos, the black substance appears to be behind the ear drums.

A had a quick google for you and it could be fluid in the ears [University of Texas Medical School] and will probably need to have middle ear ventilation tubes.

 

[Karl28]

isnt that risky having that in your ear

 

[The Red Viper]

Looking at those photos, the black substance appears to be behind the ear drums.

A had a quick google for you and it could be fluid in the ears [University of Texas Medical School] and will probably need to have middle ear ventilation tubes.

It's definitely outside of the ear drum. It's hard to see on the still images but when I look at it in real-time it's readily apparent. It's not fluid either as my tympanometric measurements show a typical air-filled middle ear cavity.

 

[The Red Viper]

isnt that risky having that in your ear

It's only in the ear canal so there's not much of a risk. Furthermore I cleaned it before I put it in the ear canal. It's no more risky than using an otoscope.

 

[squeek]

It's definitely outside of the ear drum. It's hard to see on the still images but when I look at it in real-time it's readily apparent. It's not fluid either as my tympanometric measurements show a typical air-filled middle ear cavity.

Phew! It doesn't look so bad. Glad to see that.

Yeah, take the videos with you to your practitioner. It's so often the case that medical imaging (by medical practitioners) itself isn't enough. Specialists are people too and can miss stuff or even worse, too lazy to make an extensive capture. My ENT didn't bother requesting imaging. I went to a 3rd party to get imaging independently to discover my ear drum inflammation.

 

[Cityjohn]

I think you have very nice looking eardrums, really they look Very healthy. You could consult an otoscopy manual. It could just be an ear hair

 

[The Red Viper]

I think you have very nice looking eardrums, really they look Very healthy. You could consult an otoscopy manual. It could just be an ear hair

It definitely looks like a hair, but the thing is it's pretty much touching my ear drum. It's not a tiny hair in the ear canal further out. Will definitely consult a manual, good suggestion.

Specialists are people too and can miss stuff or even worse, too lazy to make an extensive capture. My ENT didn't bother requesting imaging. I went to a 3rd party to get imaging independently to discover my ear drum inflammation.

Precisely. I know I'm grasping at straws here but there's always the chance that this could be causing my T, as the ear drum is constantly vibrating (even if slightly) to pressure changes and sounds.

 

[The Red Viper]

I have a 30 sec 4MB video but I guess I can't upload video files.

BTW I took a bonus video of the left ear drum (the good one) during a Valsalva. It looks pretty cool.

 

[The Red Viper]

Quick update... I had an ENT flush out the hair. There's no longer any irritation but the T remains.