Medical Treatment

There is no local treatment (ear drops) to the ear itself or any other medication that will improve the hearing in persons with otosclerosis. In some cases, medication (sodium fluoride) is used to prevent further loss of hearing related to the inner ear. This is given to those patients who have evidence of having hair cell loss as a result of involvement of the cochlea.

Surgical Treatment

The stapes operation is recommended for patients with otosclerosis who have a conductive or mixed hearing loss and are candidates for surgery. This operation is performed under local or general anesthesia in an outpatient setting, requiring only a short period of convalescence. Over 90% of these operations are successful in restoring hearing permanently.

For the stapes operation to be successful in restoring hearing in otosclerosis, the hearing nerve must be able to receive and transmit sound to the brain. Careful and thorough hearing tests are necessary to determine the hearing nerve function.

Whenever an ear is operated upon, there is a chance that the hearing could be made worse or lost altogether. The possibility of this happening differs from one operation to another and may occur even if the surgery goes well and there are no other complications.