ROANOKE, Va. – A Roanoke doctor faced a rare diagnosis that almost left him deaf in one of his ears.
Orthopedic surgeon, Dr. James Farmer reached out to 10 News to share his experience after he was diagnosed with Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss, also known as SSNHL.
Farmer said it was a normal day in his office when he started feeling discomfort in his left ear.
“It felt like there may be an obstruction, some water or something stuck in my ear. In a period of about 3 hours, all I could hear was a loud bull horn in my left ear,” said Farmer.
Luckily, right below Dr. Farmer’s office is Roanoke Valley ENT and Allergy, where he went to see Dr. Paul Lenkowski.
In a matter of minutes, Dr. Lenkowski diagnosed Dr. Farmer with Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss.
“What that means is it’s a nerve or the hair cells inside the inner ear, and you can’t see that. And the only way to see that is to get a hearing test,” said Dr. Lenkowski.
Dr. Farmer’s hearing test showed a significant decrease in his left ear’s ability.
Farmer started taking steroids immediately and has since made a full recovery.
“I feel really blessed about that. and that’s the main reason why I wanted other people to know, and it’s not normal. And when I did finally read about it, I found out a lot of people have permanent hearing loss,” said Farmer.
More than 60% of people do not get their hearing back, according to Dr. Lenkowski – people are misdiagnosed or don’t seek treatment fast enough.
“Most people, it happens once in their life. Happens only in one ear, and if treated early, their hearing comes back. If treated late in the process, it rarely ever comes back. That’s why we want to raise awareness for treatment early in this,” said Dr. Lenkowski.
The cause of SSNHL is most of the time unknown.
Symptoms include ringing in the ear, ears feeling clogged like they need to pop, dizziness, or hearing loss.