Cholesteatomas are benign tumors in cases where a perforation of the eardrum (tympanic membrane) does not heal without surgery, but instead grows through the hole into the middle ear and, if infection develops, results in a cyst-like tumor. The tympanum or tympanic membrane, colloquially known as eardrum, is a thin membrane that separates the outer ear from the middle ear. ... The tympanum or tympanic membrane, colloquially known as eardrum, is a thin membrane that separates the outer ear from the middle ear. ... For an alternative meaning, see ear (botany). ... An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. ...

A cholesteatoma cyst consists of desquamating (peeling) layers of scaly or keratinised (horny) layers of epithelium, which may also contain cholesterol crystals. In zootomy, epithelium is a tissue composed of a layer of cells. ... Cholesterol is a steroid lipid, found in the cell membranes of all body tissues, and transported in the blood plasma of all animals. ...

If untreated, a cholesteatoma can eat into the three small bones located in the middle ear (the malleus, incus and stapes, collectively called ossicles), which can result in nerve deterioration, deafness, imbalance and vertigo. It can also affect and erode, through the enzymes it produces, the thin bone structure that isolates the top of the ear from the brain, as well as lay the covering of the brain open to infection with serious complications. The malleus is hammer-shaped small bone or ossicle of the middle ear which connects with the incus and is attached to the inner surface of the eardrum. ... The incus is the anvil-shaped small bone or ossicle in the middle ear. ... The stapes or stirrup is the stirrup-shaped small bone or ossicle in the middle ear which attaches the incus to the fenestra ovalis, the oval window which is adjacent to the vestibule of the inner ear. ... The ossicles (also called auditory ossicles) are the three smallest bones in the human body. ... This article is about hearing impairment in the patholocial sense. ... Vertigo can refer to a number of things: Vertigo is a form of dizziness often associated with balance disorder. ... Neuraminidase ribbon diagram An enzyme (in Greek en = in and zyme = leaven) is a protein, or protein complex, that catalyzes a chemical reaction and also controls the 3D orientation of the catalyzed substrates. ...

A history of ear infection or flooding of the ear during swimming should be taken seriously and investigated and cholesteatoma should be considered a possible outcome. Otitis media (also known as glue ear) is an inflammation of the middle ear, usually associated with a buildup of fluid. ...

Even after careful microscopic surgical removal, however, 10% to 20% of cholesteatomas may recur, which then require follow-up checks and/or treatment.

Usually cholesteatomas in adults are acquired through the above reasons. Less commonly the disease may be congenital, when it grows from birth behind the eardrum. Congenital cholesteatomas are more often found in the anterior aspect of the ear drum, in contrast to acquired cholesteatomas that usually arise from the pars flaccida region of the ear drum in the posterior-superior aspect of the ear drum

Both the acquired as well as the congenital types of the disease can affect the facial nerve that reaches from the brain to the face and leads through the inner and middle ear and leaves at the forward tip of the mastoid bone, and then rises to the front of the ear and extends into the upper and lower face. The facial nerve is seventh of twelve paired cranial nerves. ...