Frequently Asked Questions

Nose bleeding(epistaxis)is a common problem in children.Usually it happens because of dry air and finger nail trauma in children.In adults high blood pressure ,tumours as a cause must be ruled out .Sometimes bleeding can happen due to forceful blowing when there is a infection in the nose.Individuals on blood thinners are prone to bleeding as the ability to form blood clots is reduced.

The first aid for a patient with bleeding involves pinching the nose ,sitting upright and breathing through the mouth for 5-10 minutes.A cold pack can be applied to the sides of the nose.Consultation should be sought if the bleeding recurs or if doesn’t stop.

Unless you’re using the cotton swab to clean the very outside of your ear (the part that sticks out from your head), the answer is NO.

Your ear canal is self-cleaning, and a little earwax actually helps to keep things like dirt and dust from getting to the important parts of the ear. There’s a layer of tissue that lines your ear canal and grows outward at about the same pace as your hair and nails. Dirt, dust, and other unwanted things migrate out with cerumen on its own towards the outside of the ear before they can reach the area of your ear that could be damaged by them. When you use a cotton swab to clean your ear, in addition to the risk of harming the canal or eardrum, you also risk pushing the wax in further and causing more build-up and possibly impaction

Nasal polyps are not life threatening .However they can cause lot of inconvenience to the lifestyle of the patients.

Nasal polyps are soft, painless, noncancerous growths on the lining of your nasal passages or sinuses. They hang down like teardrops or grapes. They result from chronic inflammation and are associated with asthma, recurring infection, allergies, drug sensitivity or certain immune disorders.

Prevention involves finding the cause, taking proper care of nasal allergies and following up periodically with a ENT specialist.

Cut foods into small pieces

  • Never let small children run, play, or lie down while eating
  • Keep coins and small items out of reach of your children
  • Read warning labels on toys
  • Learn first aid for choking

If the child has breathing difficulty or you hear abnormal sounds while breathing-it is a medical emergency and help should be sought immediately.

The eustachian tube connects the ear to the nasal passage. The eustachian tubes help drain fluid from the ears. They also keep the air pressure equal inside and outside the ears. These tubes are shorter and more horizontal in children. This makes it more likely for the tubes to become blocked. A blockage lets fluid and pressure build up in the middle ear. Bacteria or fungi can grow in this fluid and cause an ear infection-called acute otitis media.

The main symptom of an ear infection is ear pain. Other symptoms may include pulling at the ear, being more fussy than usual, decreased appetite, and vomiting or diarrhea. Your child’s hearing may also be affected. Your child may have had a respiratory infection first.

The adenoid is only a very small part of our immune system. Our immune system has many different ways of learning to recognize germs. Children who have their adenoid (and even the tonsils) removed do not, on average, have any more illnesses than children who “keep” their adenoid. ln fact, some children will get fewer illnesses, like recurrent nasal infections, after their adenoid is taken out.The most common reason that children have their adenoid removed is to help them breathe and sleep better.

Less sleep can cause poor concentration, behavior changes, growth problems and sometimes persistent bedwetting.

Ask yourself these questions to help figure out if your child could have allergies or a cold:

  1. Have the seasons changed? If yes, it could be allergies. Seasonal allergies come at the same time every year and around the same set of conditions (Allergy symptoms like sneezing, congestion, or a runny nose are the body’s response to breathing in airborne allergens (like plant pollen or mold spores). Colds, on the other hand, are caused by viruses that can turn up in any environment, at any time of year, but are most common in winter months.
  2. Did symptoms come on suddenly? If yes, it could be allergies. Another sign that you might be dealing with seasonal allergies is if symptoms come on suddenly and last a long time. Cold symptoms tend to come on more gradually and usually go away within 7 to 10 days, but allergies last as long as someone is exposed to an allergen, which can be for weeks or months.
  3. Do you have itchy, watery eyes? If yes, it could be allergies.
  4. Is there a fever? If yes, it could be a cold. Allergy symptoms are never accompanied by a fever, while colds sometimes are.
  5. Is there yellow/greenish nasal discharge? If yes, it could be a cold. With an allergy, your son’s runny nose would have a thin, clear discharge rather than the thick yellow or greenish discharge that can come with a cold.

Sound quality from a cochlear implant is different from that in normal hearing. That’s because a limited number of electrodes take over the work of the thousands of hair cells in a normal cochlea. The sounds a child hears won’t be totally “natural.”

But cochlear implants let someone sense sound that they couldn’t hear otherwise. Infants who never heard before soon will build new brain pathways to start to make sense of these sounds. With therapy and practice, all kids can learn how to interpret these sounds to better understand speech.

Good hand washing is the first line of defense against the spread of many illnesses — from the common cold to more serious infections, such as meningitis, bronchiolitis, the flu, hepatitis A, and many types of diarrhea.

To stop the spread of germs in your family, make regular hand washing a rule for everyone. It’s especially important:

  • before eating and cooking
  • after using the bathroom
  • after cleaning around the house
  • after touching animals, including family pets
  • before and after visiting or taking care of any sick friends or relatives
  • after blowing one’s nose, coughing, or sneezing
  • after being outside

Do not underestimate the power of hand washing!!

Common causes of cough are allergy,Acidity and post cold.If cough follows a respiratory infection it usually gets better by 5th day and doesn’t longer than 2 weeks.

Contact your healthcare provider if:

  • You spit up blood when you cough.
  • You have chest pain or trouble breathing when you cough.
  • Your coughing makes you vomit.
  • You have an unexplained weight loss.
  • Your cough began after you were in close contact with someone who has whooping cough/Tuberculosis
  • Your cough lasts more than 8 weeks.
  • Your cough starts to get better and then gets worse.
  • If you have a lung problem such as asthma or cystic brosis (CF)

Another common cause is from a category of drugs called an giotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, also referred to as “ACE inhibitors”. These drugs are commonly given for high blood pressure or heart failure.

A doctor will suggest this as a opd procedure to..

  • diagnose a constant cough, throat pain, bleeding, hoarseness, or constant bad breath
  • check for inflammation (swelling and irritation)
  • discover a possible narrowing or blockage of the throat
  • remove foreign objects, such as small toys swallowed by mistake
  • see or get a sample of a mass or tissue in the throat or on the vocal cords
  • diagnose swallowing problems
  • diagnose suspected cancer
  • evaluate causes of persistent earache
  • diagnose voice problems, such as weak voice, hoarse voice, breathy voice, or no voice

Laryngoscopy is a visual examination below the back of the throat, where the voice box (larynx) containing the vocal cords is located.Laryngoscopy is relatively painless, but the idea of having a scope inserted into the throat can be a little scary so it helps to understand how a laryngoscopy is done.A spray is given into the throat to numb the throat (lasts for half an hour )-this helps to avoid the gag reflex which occurs if the tip of scope touches the back of tongue.

Make the patient lie down with the affected ear facing upwards.

  1. Use one hand to hold the middle of the outer rim of the ear. Gently pull up and back. This helps open the hole in the ear so drops go in properly.
  2. With your other hand, hold the medicine bottle so the dropper tip is slightly above the hole in the ear. To keep your hand steady as you give the drops, rest your wrist against your child’s cheek.
  3. Squeeze the bottle gently.
  4. Count the drops as they go into the ear.
  5. After giving the drops, gently press the area at the front of the ear over the hole. Do this several times to move the drops into the ear.This is called tragal pump

All newborns should undergo hearing screening at birth.Earlier the age it is diagnosed,earlier will be the intervention and better is the prognosis.

Some hearing milestones your child should reach in the first year of life:

  • Most newborn infants startle or “jump” to sudden loud noises.
  • By 3 months, a baby usually recognizes a parent’s voice.
  • By 6 months, a baby can usually turn his or her eyes or head toward a sound.
  • By 12 months, a baby can usually imitate some sounds and produce a few words, such as “Mama” or “bye-bye.”

As your baby grows into a toddler, signs of a hearing loss may include:

  • limited, poor, or no speech
  • frequently inattentive
  • difficulty learning
  • seems to need higher TV volume
  • fails to respond to conversation-level speech or answers inappropriately to speech

• fails to respond to his or her name or easily frustrated when there’s a lot of background noise

Migraine is a condition that causes attacks (episodes) of headaches(moderate -severe throbbing type). Other symptoms such as feeling sick (nausea) or being sick (vomiting) are also common. Between migraine attacks, the symptoms go completely.

Host of other symptoms can occur with migraine like Blurred vision,Poor concentration,Stuffy nose,tummy pain ,diarrhoea,scalp tenderness,feeling hot or cold and numbness or tingling in extremities.

Frequent attacks need cutting down triggers ,lifestyle modifications and medications.

A thyroplasty is a procedure performed on the vocal cords to help improve your voice.A small cut is made, in the skin, in the middle of the neck.

A piece of cartilage (from the thyroid cartilage) is removed and a silastic (type of plastic) implant is placed through the cartilage into the voice box. This allows the position of the vocal cords to be changed so that they can come together.

This procedure is usually performed under local anaesthetic but you will be given a sedative so that you are relaxed and sleepy throughout the procedure. When the implant is inserted, a camera scope will then be passed through your nose so that the surgeon can see your vocal cords and check the position of the implant.

You have had surgery to create an opening through your neck and into your trachea (windpipe). A tube (cannula) was inserted into the opening to allow you to breathe. You need to take care of your tracheostomy (“trach”) tube, the opening in your neck (stoma), and the skin around the stoma once you leave the hospital.

Clean your tube and the skin around it at least once a day, or more often if told to by your healthcare provider. They may recommend normal saline solution or a mixture of equal parts normal saline and hydrogen peroxide.

First wash your hands with soap and water,then gently remove the inner cannula of the tube ,(dont remove outer tube),put the inner cannula in a bowl filled with normal saline and hydrogen peroxide .A tracheostomy tube brush can be used for cleaning the insides of the cannula.The skin around the tube can be cleaned with normal saline or with dilute betadine solution.After cleaning is done the inner cannula can be re inserted and locked in place.

It is usually not necessary.Eustachian tube, a thin opening between the middle ear and the nose is the culprit behind this uncomfortable sensation. The Eustachian tube must re-adjust itself to accommodate the change in air pressure and this process is more troublesome for some people than others, especially those suffering from allergies and a sinus problem. In order to help the tubes open up or close more smoothly, there are certain tried and tested techniques that one could follow to ease the pain.”

Gently blow, as if blowing your nose, while pinching your nostrils and keeping your mouth closed. Repeat several times, especially during descent, to equalize the pressure between your ears and the airplane cabin.

Frequent yawning and swallowing will also help in opening up this tube to equalise pressures.Sleeping during ascent and descent is not generally advisable as more time has to be spent during these times to follow these measures

common reasons for snoring are 1. obesity 2.loose tissue in the upper airway and 3 use of alchohol before sleep. For 1 and 3 the remedy is to correct the cause. if obesity is brought down by few kgs and problem does not solve we treat you as for reason no 2. the treatment is by removal of the excess tissue by laser,an operation called palatopharyngoplasty. we also specialise in translocating your own body hard tissue as palatal implant graft. pl contact directly to know where you are laced and treatment plan for you.

herewith am sending info from a new publication from korea. prevalence of tinnitus in the young population was 17.7%, although only 0.3% of subjects reported severe discomfort caused by tinnitus. The tinnitus prevalence increased with age (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.087). Female gender (AOR, 1.401), sleeping less than 9 hours (sleep 7 or 8 h: AOR, 1.437; sleep 6 h or less: AOR, 1.737), noise exposure in other places (AOR, 6.395), and momentary noise exposure (AOR, 5.504) increased the risk of tinnitus. Participants whose mother had a history of tinnitus showed higher AORs.

phonosurgery is done for people with altered voice for their restoration.the procedure may range from fibrescopic laryngeal surgery undr Local anaeasthesia ( Rs 25000 ) to anterior group of phono surgery with silicone or goretex ( about 65000 ) to more exotic combination with posterior group of phono surgery.pl let us know your exact problem of voice to help further.pl send the actual diagnosis. Example vocal cord polyp, puberophonia, single vocal cord paralysis, bilateral paralysis, glottic chink etc. pl go to www.entanand.com for help line and other information esp how we have been awarded by the association of otorhinolaryngologists 3 times for establishing 1.developing phonosurgery for indian situations 2.fibrescopic laryngeal surgery and 3.vocal cordoplasty for bilateral paralysis

the sub mandibular gland is often the site for calculi and these have to be assesed for the following. 1.reasons for occurrence 2.removal of the calculi and treatment of the ductal system narrowing ( Stenosis ) or webs. 3.procedure under L.A.will require high quality ultrasound exmn of the ductal system and sialendoscopy under local. 4.approx cost 25 to 70 k dep on disposables . 5.hosp mob no 09943840666 cbe clinic mob 098433 99651

Thank you for your query.it is normal for the old collected blood from the sinuses to come in to the mouth during throat clearing or hawking for up to 6 weeks after surgery. pl call if you have any fresh ooze of blood.