Citation

Turan M, Kalkan F, Bozan N, Özçalimli İ, Zeki Erdem M, Yalınkılıç A, Garca MF. Case Rep. Otolaryngol. 2015; 2015: e738416.

Affiliation

Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Medical Faculty, Yüzüncü Yıl University, 65040 Van, Turkey.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Hindawi Publishing)

DOI

10.1155/2015/738416

PMID

26161278

PMCID

PMC4487271

Abstract

In most of the surviving patients after a lightning strike, audiovestibular abnormalities have been reported. The most frequently reported type of abnormalities is a tympanic membrane perforation with hearing loss and external ear canal burn. However a sensor neural hearing loss and mixed type hearing loss can also occur, but these occur rarely. A nineteen-year-old female patient had, after a lightning strike, serious burns on the left ear, behind the ear, and on the chest and neck. She also had in her left ear 108 dB hearing loss with irregular central perforation and in her right ear 52 dB sensorineural hearing loss. There was no hearing loss before the strike. A hearing aid was recommended for the right ear and good care and follow-up were recommended for the left ear. A lightning strike can cause serious audiological damage. Therefore, it is necessary to make a careful audiovestibular evaluation of the patients. Although there exist rarely healed cases from sensorineural hearing loss after lightning strike in literature, in our case hearing loss occurred bilaterally and then it healed unilaterally. This condition is quite rare in literature.

Language: en