After Mastoid Surgery: Which Symptoms Are Expected and Which Mean It Is Time to Call?

On the third night after her operation, a patient I once interviewed described lying very still in bed, listening to her own pulse thud inside the packed ear, wondering whether the ache behind it was healing or trouble. The dressing had come off that morning. The ear felt full of cotton. When she turned her head, the room slid a fraction before settling. Nobody had told her which of these things mattered.

That uncertainty is the real story of mastoid recovery. The surgery itself is done under a microscope by people who know every millimeter of that bone. The days afterward belong to you, and to whoever is watching over you at home, and the list of mastoidectomy complications warning signs is short enough to learn in an evening.

This explainer separates the ordinary from the urgent, using what mainstream medical sources actually say about the ear, the nerve that runs through it, and the thin plates of bone that separate it from the brain.

What actually happens during a mastoidectomy?

Press a finger behind your earlobe and you will feel a firm bump. That is the mastoid, a section of the skull filled with air pockets like a honeycomb, all connected to the middle ear. When infection or abnormal tissue settles in those pockets, it has nowhere easy to drain, and the surrounding bone is thin.

A mastoidectomy is an operation that opens those air cells with a fine drill and clears out diseased bone and tissue. It is done under general anesthesia through an incision behind the ear, with the surgeon looking through a microscope. Several versions exist. A simple, or cortical, mastoidectomy drains an acute infection. A canal wall up procedure keeps the wall between the mastoid and the ear canal intact. A canal wall down procedure removes that wall, creating a single open cavity that the surgeon can inspect at follow-up visits for years.

Very often the operation is combined with a tympanoplasty, which is a repair of the eardrum, and sometimes with reconstruction of the three tiny hearing bones, the ossicles. The most common reason for the whole package is cholesteatoma: a pocket of skin cells growing in the wrong place inside the ear, slowly expanding and eroding bone. The NHS describes surgery as the standard way to remove it, because it does not go away on its own.

What makes this operation delicate is geography rather than size. Within a few millimeters of the drill sit the facial nerve, the inner ear organs of hearing and balance, a large vein called the sigmoid sinus, and the dura, the membrane covering the brain. Surgeons work with continuous facial nerve monitoring and anatomical landmarks precisely because those neighbors explain almost every serious complication discussed below.

Who is usually offered mastoid surgery, and who is asked to wait?

Two very different patients end up in the same operating room. The first has a chronic problem: a cholesteatoma found on examination or scanning, or a long-standing ear infection that keeps discharging despite drops and cleaning. For cholesteatoma, MedlinePlus and the NHS both frame surgery as the main treatment, because the pocket keeps growing and can erode the hearing bones, the facial nerve canal, or the bone toward the brain.

The second patient has acute mastoiditis, an infection that has spread from the middle ear into the mastoid bone, most often in a child after an ear infection. Here the first step is usually not the knife. The NHS explains that acute mastoiditis is treated in hospital with intravenous antibiotics, and that surgery is reserved for cases where an abscess has formed, the infection is not settling, or complications appear. A drain placed in the eardrum may be enough to let pus out without touching the mastoid.

Who is asked to wait, then? A child who is improving on antibiotics within a day or two. Someone whose ear canal is actively inflamed, where a course of drops can calm the tissue and make surgery safer and clearer. Someone with medical conditions that need optimizing first. And, with particular care, anyone whose affected ear is their only hearing ear, where the team will want detailed hearing tests and a frank conversation about trade-offs before proceeding.

None of these are rules you can apply to yourself. The decision rests on examination findings, imaging, hearing tests and the pattern of your symptoms, and it belongs to the ear, nose and throat team looking after you.

Mastoidectomy complications warning signs: the short list worth memorizing

Before the detail, here is the list. If you remember nothing else from this article, remember these seven, because each one points to a structure the surgeon worked beside.

• New weakness or drooping on the operated side of the face, including an eye that will not fully close or a smile that pulls to one side.
• Spinning dizziness severe enough to cause vomiting or stop you walking, especially if it begins hours or days after you were initially steady.
• Sudden, profound loss of hearing in the operated ear, usually with loud roaring tinnitus, rather than the muffled fullness of packing.
• Fever with pain that is worsening rather than easing, or a wound that becomes red, hot, swollen or leaks pus.
• Clear, watery fluid dripping from the ear or running down the back of the throat, particularly if it leaves a salty taste.
• Bleeding that soaks through dressings rather than staining them.
• A severe headache with a stiff neck, sensitivity to light, drowsiness or confusion.

The mechanism behind this list is simple. The facial nerve runs through the temporal bone, the balance and hearing organs sit just deep to the drilled cavity, and the dura lies against the roof of the mastoid. MedlinePlus lists facial paralysis, dizziness, hearing loss, meningitis and spread of infection to the brain as recognized complications of mastoid disease itself; the same structures are at stake during and after surgery to treat it.

Every item above deserves a phone call to your surgical team the same day, and the last one deserves emergency care. Nothing on this list is a wait-and-see symptom.

What to expect after mastoidectomy in the first two weeks

The ordinary version of recovery is undramatic and a little annoying. Knowing its shape stops you mistaking normal for dangerous.

The ear will feel blocked. Surgeons pack the canal and the cavity with dressing material to hold repaired tissue in place, so hearing on that side is muffled for weeks, not days. You may hear your own heartbeat, your voice booming, or a new ringing. Tinnitus, the perception of sound with no external source, is common while the ear is packed and inflamed.

There will be an ache behind the ear that responds to the pain relief your team advised, worst in the first two or three days and easing steadily. Chewing may pull on the wound. The skin of the outer ear, the pinna, often feels numb or oddly wooden because small sensory nerves in the incision line are cut; sensation returns over months. Bruising can track down the neck.

Discharge is expected: a small amount of blood-tinged or yellowish fluid staining a cotton ball changed a few times a day. Taste may be altered on one side of the tongue, because a small nerve called the chorda tympani crosses the middle ear and is sometimes stretched or divided; a metallic or muted taste usually settles over weeks to months.

Mild unsteadiness in the first day or two is common as the inner ear recovers from the vibration of drilling. The NHS advises that most people need about a week off work or school after cholesteatoma surgery and are seen for a first follow-up around one to two weeks later, when packing is checked or removed. Fatigue lasting longer than the pain surprises many people and is entirely usual after general anesthesia.

Expected or worrying? A side-by-side guide to symptoms after mastoid surgery

Most anxious phone calls come down to one question: is this version of the symptom the harmless one? The table sets the two side by side for the symptoms people search most.

Symptom	Usually expected	Call your team
Pain	Dull ache behind the ear, easing after the first 2–3 days, controlled by advised pain relief	Pain increasing after day three, throbbing with fever, or pain in the whole side of the head
Hearing	Muffled, blocked, echoey while packing is in place	Sudden complete deafness with loud roaring tinnitus, or hearing that was present then vanishes
Dizziness	Mild imbalance when turning or standing, improving daily	Spinning vertigo with vomiting, unable to walk unaided, or new vertigo after being steady
Discharge	Small blood-tinged or yellowish stain on cotton, a few changes a day	Clear watery fluid, foul-smelling pus, or bleeding soaking dressings
Face	Numb outer ear, tight skin at the incision	Any drooping, an eye that will not close, or an uneven smile
Temperature	Feeling warm the first evening	Fever with chills, sweats, or feeling suddenly very unwell
Head and neck	Tenderness around the wound, aching jaw from the mouth guard	Severe headache, stiff neck, light sensitivity, drowsiness, confusion

The pattern that matters most is direction of travel. Recovery symptoms plateau and fade. Complication symptoms appear, worsen, or change character. A dull ache that becomes a pounding, feverish pain has changed character. A blocked ear that was blocked yesterday and is blocked today has not.

Use the right-hand column as a permission slip. If anything you are experiencing sits there, you do not need to justify the call.

Why does my ear feel blocked or hear worse after mastoid surgery?

Hearing is the outcome people worry about most and the one that is hardest to judge early. In the first weeks, three things sit between the world and your inner ear: packing in the canal, fluid and swelling in the middle ear, and a healing eardrum graft that has not yet thinned and become mobile. Any one of them muffles sound. All three together can make the operated ear feel as if it is underwater.

This is why surgeons discourage judging hearing until packing is out and healing is well advanced, often a matter of several weeks to a few months. The NHS notes that hearing loss and tinnitus are recognized risks of cholesteatoma surgery, and also that hearing may be improved, unchanged or worse depending on what the disease had already destroyed. If the cholesteatoma had eroded the hearing bones, the operation to remove it safely may leave hearing worse until, or unless, a later reconstruction is possible.

A canal wall down procedure permanently changes the shape of the ear. Sound reaches the eardrum through a larger, differently shaped space, and the ear may need periodic cleaning of the cavity at clinic for life. That is a trade the surgeon makes to see and control disease, and it should have been part of your pre-operative conversation.

The warning sign is not muffling. It is sudden, complete deafness in the operated ear, especially with a loud roaring or hissing tinnitus and spinning dizziness arriving together. That combination suggests the inner ear itself has been affected, whether by inflammation, a leak of inner ear fluid, or infection, and it needs same-day assessment. Time matters for inner ear problems in a way it does not for a blocked canal.

Dizziness after mastoidectomy: when is it normal and when is it a warning?

The inner ear contains both the cochlea, the organ of hearing, and the labyrinth, three fluid-filled loops that sense head movement. The mastoid cavity is drilled right up to the bony shell around them. Vibration through that shell, plus a little inflammation, is enough to make the balance system grumble for a day or two.

Expected dizziness after mastoidectomy therefore looks like this: a sense of imbalance when you stand or turn quickly, worst in the first twenty-four to forty-eight hours, improving each day, and never so bad that you cannot walk with a hand on the wall. MedlinePlus lists dizziness among the complications of mastoid disease and its treatment, and in this mild, fading form it is one of the most common experiences after the operation.

Worrying dizziness has a different texture. True vertigo is a spinning sensation, as though the room is turning, usually with nausea and vomiting and often with rapid flicking eye movements that a companion can see. When it is severe, when it arrives after you had been steady, or when it comes together with a sudden drop in hearing and loud tinnitus, it may indicate injury or inflammation of the labyrinth, or a fistula, meaning an abnormal opening between the middle and inner ear. The NHS lists dizziness among the recognized risks of cholesteatoma surgery.

A specific clue is dizziness triggered by pressure changes: sneezing, straining, lifting something heavy, or a loud sound. That pattern points toward the inner ear and deserves a call. So does vertigo accompanied by fever or headache, because infection spreading into the labyrinth is an emergency.

While dizzy, protect yourself from the most common injury of all: a fall. Sit before standing, keep lights on at night, and let someone else carry the laundry basket.

Facial nerve injury after mastoidectomy: what facial weakness means and why it is urgent

The facial nerve leaves the brainstem, passes through the inner ear region, runs a winding course through the temporal bone and exits just below the ear before fanning out across the face. For part of that journey it lies directly in the path of mastoid surgery, sometimes with its protective bony canal already eroded by disease. The NIH StatPearls review of cholesteatoma describes facial nerve injury as the most feared complication of the operation, which is why surgeons use electrical monitoring throughout and identify the nerve before drilling near it.

Facial nerve injury after mastoidectomy shows itself in specific ways: the mouth pulls to the healthy side when you smile, the forehead will not wrinkle on the operated side, and, most importantly, the eyelid does not close completely. An eye that cannot blink dries out and can be scratched, which is why any facial weakness gets urgent attention for the eye as well as the nerve.

Timing changes the meaning. Weakness noticed immediately on waking from anesthesia is examined and addressed in hospital before you go home. Weakness that appears hours later can be a temporary effect as local anesthetic used during surgery wears off in reverse, or swelling and tight packing pressing on an exposed nerve. Weakness that appears days later is more often inflammation around the nerve. The distinction between these is a clinical judgment, not a home one.

Here is the practical rule: any new facial asymmetry after you have left hospital, however slight, is a same-day phone call to your surgical team. Do not wait for the morning clinic. Do not assume it is tiredness. Take a photograph of your face attempting a smile and a tight eye squeeze, so the team can compare. Nerve recovery depends on cause and severity, and your surgeons, not this article, are the people to speak to that.

Infection after mastoid surgery: wound problems, fever and discharge

A surgical wound behind the ear sits in a warm, often oily area of skin close to hair and, for glasses wearers, under a frame that rubs. Mild redness along the incision line and a little crusting are ordinary in the first week. Infection after mastoid surgery looks different: spreading redness that extends beyond the line, skin that is hot and tight, increasing rather than easing pain, and thick or foul-smelling discharge from the wound or the ear canal.

The CDC describes the general signs of a surgical site infection as redness and pain around the wound, drainage of cloudy fluid, and fever. Fever is a useful but imperfect flag. Some infections, particularly of the outer ear cartilage, cause severe local pain and a swollen, red, shiny pinna without much temperature at all. A pinna that looks like a hot, swollen rubber ear needs review quickly, because cartilage infection can distort the ear permanently if it is not treated.

The other infection to keep in mind is the original one coming back. Acute mastoiditis, according to MedlinePlus, causes drainage from the ear, ear pain, fever, headache, and redness and swelling behind the ear. If those symptoms return after the operation that was meant to settle them, the infection has not been controlled, and the team needs to know.

Antibiotics may be given by drip in hospital, by mouth at home, or as ear drops that deliver a high local concentration directly onto healing tissue; which of these, and for how long, is a decision for the prescribing clinician based on the disease found at surgery. Two things you can control: follow the exact instructions for keeping the ear dry, and never stop a prescribed course early because you feel better. If drops seem to cause burning, spinning or a rash, report it rather than quietly discontinuing.

Headache, stiff neck and confusion: signs infection has reached the brain

The roof of the mastoid is a plate of bone, sometimes paper-thin, sometimes already breached by disease. Behind its back wall lies the sigmoid sinus, a large vein draining blood from the brain. This anatomy explains the rare but grave complications that every source on mastoid disease lists: meningitis, an infection of the membranes around the brain; brain abscess, a walled-off pocket of pus inside brain tissue; and sinus thrombosis, a clot in that large vein. The NHS names all three among the complications of untreated mastoiditis, and the same routes remain open during recovery from surgery.

The symptom that unites them is a headache unlike an ordinary post-operative ache: severe, persistent, often worse lying flat, and accompanied by at least one of the following. A stiff neck that resists bending the chin to the chest. Sensitivity to light. Repeated vomiting without vertigo. Drowsiness, confusion, or a companion saying you are not yourself. A seizure. High fever with shaking chills. Any of these together with a recent mastoid operation is an emergency, not a phone call.

A cerebrospinal fluid leak is the quieter cousin. Cerebrospinal fluid is the clear liquid bathing the brain. If the dura has a small tear, it can drip from the ear or run down the throat, tasting salty or metallic, and it increases with bending forward or straining. It matters because it is a doorway for bacteria toward the brain. Clear, watery, persistent drainage is therefore on the same-day list even when you feel well.

Sepsis deserves its own sentence. The CDC lists fever or feeling very cold, confusion, shortness of breath, a racing heart, extreme pain and clammy skin as signs that infection is overwhelming the body. Those are 911 symptoms whatever the source of the infection.

How risky is mastoidectomy? Putting complications into honest perspective

People ask this question hoping for a single percentage. The truthful answer is that published complication rates vary widely from one series to another, because they depend on how extensive the disease is, whether the facial nerve or inner ear bone was already eroded, whether this is a first operation or a revision, and how a given study defined a complication. Any one number quoted without those details is misleading, so this article will not invent one.

What the mainstream sources agree on is the list. The NHS names hearing loss, tinnitus, dizziness, taste disturbance and facial nerve damage as the main risks of cholesteatoma surgery, and describes facial nerve damage as rare. The NIH StatPearls review adds cerebrospinal fluid leak and injury to the dura or sigmoid sinus among recognized operative risks, and stresses that facial nerve injury, though uncommon, is the complication surgeons most work to avoid. Serious intracranial infection after surgery is rarer still and generally arises from disease that had already breached bone.

The comparison that matters is not surgery versus a perfect ear. It is surgery versus the disease left alone. A cholesteatoma keeps growing; MedlinePlus lists erosion of bone, hearing loss, facial paralysis, dizziness, meningitis and brain abscess as consequences of the untreated condition. In other words, most of the feared complications of the operation are also the feared complications of not operating, with the difference that surgery happens under a microscope with a nerve monitor and disease does not.

Two more honest points. First, cholesteatoma can return; the NHS explains that this is why follow-up continues for years, and why some canal wall up procedures are planned with a second look. Second, the person best placed to tell you your risk is the surgeon who has seen your scan, your ear and your hearing test. Ask them directly. A good team welcomes the question.

What do the following weeks usually look like after mastoid surgery?

Recovery has a rhythm, and knowing it in advance turns a nervous month into a series of checkpoints.

The first week is about rest, keeping the wound and ear dry, and letting the ache fade. The NHS advises about a week off work or school after cholesteatoma surgery, with longer for physically demanding jobs. Washing hair requires a cotton ball lightly coated in petroleum jelly in the ear and a hand held over it, or whatever alternative your team prefers. Sneeze with your mouth open. Avoid blowing your nose hard, because pressure travels up the tube from the back of the nose to the middle ear and can disturb a fresh eardrum repair.

Around one to two weeks comes the first clinic visit, when packing in the canal may be removed or trimmed and the wound checked. Do not be alarmed if hearing is still poor at this point; deeper packing may remain, and the graft is still thickened.

Over the following weeks the NHS advises avoiding swimming, flying and strenuous activity until your team says otherwise, usually a matter of a few weeks; the exact timing depends on what was repaired and how it is healing. If you must travel any distance for follow-up, arrange where and when you will be seen before you leave, keep moving on long journeys to reduce clot risk, and carry a summary of your operation.

Hearing tests are typically repeated once healing has settled. For canal wall down cavities, periodic cleaning at clinic becomes a routine part of life. For canal wall up procedures, a planned second operation or scan to check for residual cholesteatoma is common. And for everyone, the NHS is clear that follow-up continues for years, because cholesteatoma can return quietly and is easiest to deal with when caught small.

What people often get wrong about recovery after mastoid surgery

Recovery advice tends to travel by word of mouth, and some of it is confidently wrong. Here are the misunderstandings that come up most.

The first is that no fever means no infection. Cartilage infection of the outer ear and low-grade wound infections can smolder with little or no temperature. Redness spreading beyond the incision, a hot swollen pinna and increasing pain are the more reliable clues; MedlinePlus includes redness and swelling behind the ear among the classic signs of mastoid infection, fever or not.

The second is judging hearing in the first week. With packing in the canal, fluid in the middle ear and a thick graft, everyone hears badly. Sudden total deafness with roaring tinnitus is the alarm; muffling is the norm.

The third is that any dizziness means the inner ear has been damaged. Mild imbalance that fades over a day or two is expected. It is the spinning, vomiting, cannot-walk variety, or dizziness appearing after you were steady, that needs a call.

The fourth is that the operation ends the story. Cholesteatoma can recur, and the NHS is explicit that surveillance continues for years. Missing follow-up appointments because the ear feels fine is the single most avoidable mistake in this whole process.

The fifth is that ear drops are optional once discharge stops. Drops prescribed after surgery are usually about controlling bacteria on healing tissue, not about discharge. Finish the course as instructed and raise concerns with the prescriber rather than quietly stopping.

The last is the quietest and the most dangerous: the belief that calling after hours is a nuisance. Surgical teams would far rather hear about facial weakness or clear watery drainage at midnight than see the consequences at a clinic a week later.

Questions to ask your care team before and after mastoid surgery

The best-informed patients are not the ones who read the most; they are the ones who leave the consultation with answers to the questions that will otherwise keep them awake at three in the morning. Consider taking this list with you.

• Which type of mastoidectomy are you planning, canal wall up or canal wall down, and how will that change what my ear looks like and how it is cared for afterward?
• What did the scan and hearing test show, and what does that mean for my hearing after surgery: likely better, unchanged or worse?
• Are the bony coverings over my facial nerve and inner ear intact on the scan, or has disease eroded them?
• Will you use facial nerve monitoring during the operation?
• How will pain be managed, and what should I do if the advised approach is not enough?
• Exactly how do you want me to keep the ear dry, and for how long?
• What will the discharge look like, and how much is too much?
• Which number do I call in the daytime, and which after hours, if I notice facial weakness, severe dizziness, clear watery fluid or fever?
• When is my first follow-up, and will packing be removed then?
• When can I return to work, drive, exercise, swim and fly?
• Is a second-look operation or a follow-up scan part of the plan, and how many years of surveillance should I expect?
• If my hearing is worse afterward, what options might exist later, and when would we discuss them?

Write the answers down or ask a companion to. Post-operative instructions are easy to misremember when you are tired and relieved, and a written sheet from your team will always outrank anything you read online, including this.

When to call your doctor: red-flag signs after mastoidectomy

This is the section to bookmark, screenshot or stick to the fridge. It repeats deliberately, because the goal is that you never have to search for it.

Call emergency services or go to the nearest emergency department if you have a severe headache with a stiff neck, sensitivity to light, drowsiness, confusion or a seizure; if you develop signs of sepsis such as high fever with shaking chills, a racing heart, breathlessness, clammy skin or feeling suddenly very unwell; or if bleeding will not stop with gentle pressure and is soaking dressings.

Call your surgical team the same day, using the after-hours number if needed, for any new weakness or drooping of the face on the operated side, especially an eye that will not close; spinning dizziness with vomiting or that stops you walking, or any new vertigo after you had been steady; sudden complete loss of hearing in the operated ear with loud tinnitus; clear, watery fluid from the ear or dripping down the throat; fever with pain that is getting worse rather than better; a wound that is spreading red, hot, swollen or leaking pus; or a red, hot, swollen outer ear.

Mention at your next contact, or sooner if it worries you: altered taste, numbness of the outer ear, ringing that fluctuates, mild imbalance that is improving, and small amounts of blood-tinged discharge. These are the ordinary texture of healing, and your team will still want to hear how they are going.

The NHS and MedlinePlus both list facial paralysis, meningitis, brain abscess, venous sinus clot and hearing loss as the serious complications of mastoid disease, and the anatomy that makes them possible does not change on the day of surgery. Trust the pattern: healing fades, complications escalate. When in doubt, call. No one on a surgical team has ever regretted a phone call that turned out to be nothing.

Frequently asked questions

How long does mastoid surgery typically take?

The operation is done in a single session under general anesthesia, and its length depends on how much disease is present, whether the eardrum or hearing bones are being repaired at the same time, and whether it is a first or revision procedure. Your surgeon can give a realistic estimate for your case. The NHS notes that an overnight hospital stay is sometimes needed afterward.

Do you feel unwell with mastoiditis?

Usually, yes. MedlinePlus lists ear pain, fever, headache, drainage from the ear, hearing loss, and redness and swelling behind the ear as typical features of acute mastoiditis, and children in particular can look generally ill, irritable and tired. Feeling unwell in this way after ear surgery, or after a recent ear infection, is a reason to seek same-day assessment rather than wait.

How risky is mastoidectomy?

Published complication rates vary widely with disease extent, prior surgery and how complications are defined, so no single percentage is honest. The NHS lists hearing loss, tinnitus, dizziness, taste change and, rarely, facial nerve damage as the main risks. Most of these are also risks of leaving a cholesteatoma untreated. Your surgeon, having seen your scan and hearing test, is the right person to quantify your own risk.

What is the most common complication of mastoiditis?

Hearing loss is the most frequently listed complication in mainstream sources, followed by damage to the mastoid bone itself and abscess formation under the skin behind the ear. MedlinePlus also lists dizziness, facial paralysis, meningitis, epidural abscess and spread of infection to the brain as recognized but less common consequences. Prompt treatment with antibiotics, and surgery when needed, is aimed at preventing these.

What to expect after mastoidectomy in the first week?

Expect a blocked, muffled ear from packing, a dull ache behind the ear that eases after the first two or three days, numbness of the outer ear, a small amount of blood-tinged discharge, possible tinnitus and altered taste, and mild unsteadiness for a day or two. The NHS advises about a week off work or school, with a first follow-up around one to two weeks after surgery.

Is dizziness after mastoidectomy normal?

Mild imbalance for a day or two is common, because drilling vibrates the bone around the inner ear. It should improve daily. Spinning vertigo with vomiting, dizziness that stops you walking, vertigo triggered by straining or loud sound, or any new vertigo after you had been steady, particularly with sudden hearing loss and loud tinnitus, suggests inner ear involvement and needs a same-day call to your team.

How common is facial nerve injury in mastoidectomy?

It is uncommon and the NHS describes it as rare, but the NIH StatPearls review calls it the most feared complication because the nerve runs through the operated bone, sometimes with its bony cover already eroded by disease. Surgeons use continuous nerve monitoring to protect it. Any new facial drooping or an eye that will not close after surgery should be reported the same day.

What are the signs of infection after mastoid surgery?

Look for redness spreading beyond the incision, skin that is hot and tight, pain increasing after day three, thick or foul-smelling discharge from the wound or ear canal, fever with chills, or a red, swollen, shiny outer ear. The CDC lists redness, pain, cloudy drainage and fever as general signs of surgical site infection. Fever can be absent, so local changes matter on their own.

When can I fly or swim after mastoid surgery?

The NHS advises avoiding flying, swimming and strenuous activity for a few weeks after cholesteatoma surgery, until your surgeon confirms the eardrum repair and cavity have healed enough to tolerate pressure changes and water. The exact timing depends on what was repaired. If travel for follow-up is unavoidable, arrange the appointment before leaving and keep mobile on long journeys.

How long until hearing returns after mastoidectomy?

Hearing cannot be fairly judged until packing is removed and the eardrum graft has thinned and become mobile, which typically takes several weeks to a few months. Outcome depends on what the disease had already destroyed; the NHS notes hearing may end up better, unchanged or worse. Sudden complete deafness with roaring tinnitus is different from gradual muffling and needs same-day review.

References

• Mastoiditis, MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia
• Cholesteatoma, MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia
• Mastoiditis, NHS
• Cholesteatoma, NHS

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.