The inner ear consists of two delicate systems responsible for hearing and balance. Because of their anatomic contiguity, disease processes tend to affect both systems simultaneously. For this reason, patients with disorders of the inner ear have both hearing as well as balance symptoms – hearing loss, tinnitus and giddiness. Inner ear symptoms tend to…
The role of a surgeon is a complex one. A variety of skills and abilities in a different array of performance tasks is required before he can be competent in his job. As such, there is no simple rule of thumb that can be used to assess a surgeon’s performance. As performance assessment and appraisal…
Giving medications is only one of several options in the management of rhinitis. Before deciding on the most appropriate medication to prescribe, you will first have to determine the cause of rhinitis: allergic, non-allergic, infectious, occupational, hormonal or drug induced. After that, you decide if there are any non-drug and non surgical methods that may…
We live in an increasingly noisy environment. Noise from cars, road surfaces, underground trains, air travel and neighbourhood construction constantly bombard us from all directions. Leisure pursuits like discotheques, cinemas, arcade games, and personal audio sets constantly expose us to high levels of noise. Excessive noise exposure has a significant impact on the quality of…
Glossopharyngeal neuralgia is not just a painful condition. At times, it may be life-threatening as a result of associated cardiovascular consequences. Even in the absence of life-threatening consequences, it can be a severe debilitating disease with depression, suicidal tendencies, fear of swallowing, loss of weight and under-nutrition. The treatment for glossopharyngeal neuralgia and Eagle’s syndrome…
Sphenochoanal polyp is a rare form of choanal polyp. If unrecognised, they can be mistaken for an antrochoanal polyp. This will result in unnecessary exploration of the maxillary sinus, and a failure to remove the sphenoidal component of the sphenochoanal polyp. Adequate preoperative evaluation with computed tomography or magnetic resonance is mandatory to ascertain the…
Juvenile angiofibroma is benign yet aggressive. Due to its inaccessible location in the nasopharynx, open surgery usually requires osteotomies which cause stunting of facial growth in adolescent males. Advances in imaging and treatment techniques have now facilitated more accurate staging of this disease. For small, extracranial tumours limited to the nasal cavity and paranasal sinus,…
