These are tiny plastic tubes that are put in the eardrum. This is done during a short operation at hospital under general anaesthetic. The grommets are inserted after the fluid in the middle ear has been drained away. The grommets allow air to circulate in the middle ear and stop more fluid from building up.
Grommets are not a cure for glue ear. But they can clear the fluid inside your child’s ears and improve their hearing until they grow out of it
Grommets usually stay in until the eardrum has healed and pushed them out. They tend to stay in for approximately a year, give or take a few months. You may not notice when they drop out! Periodic visits and examinations will check on the status of the Grommets and the hearing.
Eventually when the grommets fall out, the glue ear may come back. This happens to one child out of every three or four who has grommets put in. If this happens Grommets may need to be reinserted until your child grows out of the problem.
There is evidence to show that taking out the adenoids at the same time as inserting Grommets may help prevent the glue ear recurring, and therefore it is normally recommended that an adenoidectomy is performed at the same time as putting grommets in.
After the operation
Grommets are not usually painful at all. You can give your child painkillers if you need to. Grommets should improve your child’s hearing straight away. Some children think everything sounds too loud until they get used to having normal hearing again. This usually takes only a few days.
Your child should usually be able to go back to school or nursery the day after the operation.
It’s not uncommon for children with grommets to have a discharge from their ear, often during or after a cold. This will mostly not be associated with any pain. About 1 in 4 children have fluid coming out of their ear, and a few (less than 1 in 25) have this for a long time. If you get some antibiotic ear drops from your doctor, the problem will quickly settle. Some doctors may give antibiotics by mouth instead of antibiotic ear drops.
Your child can start swimming about a month after the operation, as long as they don’t dive under the water. You do not necessarily need to use earplugs – the hole in the grommet is too small to let water through. You do need to avoid getting dirty or soapy water into the ear, so in the bath or shower plug your child’s ears with a cotton-wool ball covered in Vaseline.
Sometimes the Grommets may get pushed out of the eardrum very early and if this happens they may need to be reinserted.
It is OK to fly in an aeroplane with grommets. The pain from the change in pressure in the aeroplane does not happen when the grommets are working.
We need to check your child’s hearing after grommets have been put in, to make sure their hearing is better.
Sometimes when a grommet comes out, a small hole is left behind. This usually heals up with time, and we rarely need to operate to close the hole. The grommet can leave some scarring in the eardrum. This does not affect the hearing.