Otorhinolaryngology: ear, nose and throat

When you notice hearing loss, earache or discharge, a persistent feeling of blocked ears, ringing in the ears, snoring with breathing pauses while sleeping, hoarseness lasting more than two or three weeks, persistent nasal obstruction or recurrent ear or throat infections. If you are experiencing vertigo or unsteadiness, the assessment is carried out in the Vestibular Unit.

Private care allows faster diagnoses, greater appointment availability and personalised treatments.

It is the specialised clinic for vertigo, dizziness, and unsteadiness, featuring specific balance tests (videonystagmography, vHIT, caloric tests, VEMPs, posturography) and vestibular rehabilitation when indicated.

It is advisable to attend if vertigo recurs, if unsteadiness lasts for weeks, if dizziness occurs when moving your head or standing up, or if you have already been investigated, everything came back normal, and you still feel unwell.

A blocked ear can be caused by an earwax plug, a cold or an allergy that prevents the middle ear from ventilating properly, otitis with fluid behind the eardrum, or a Eustachian tube dysfunction. Sometimes it is the first sign of hearing loss.

If it lasts for more than a few days, does not improve, or is accompanied by pain, ringing or hearing loss, it should be examined: an otoscopy and, when necessary, audiometry and tympanometry usually clarify the cause.

Tinnitus usually accompanies an ear condition: earwax build-up, otitis, age-related or noise-induced hearing loss, and occasionally issues with the jaw joint or cervical spine. Stress and poor sleep make it more noticeable, but they are not the cause.

The assessment begins by examining the ear and testing your hearing. Seek medical advice sooner if the ringing affects only one ear, beats in time with your heartbeat, or is accompanied by hearing loss or vertigo.

It is urgent when hearing drops suddenly, within a few hours or days, and particularly if it affects only one ear: sudden hearing loss is best treated as soon as possible.

Outside of this situation, it is advisable to consult a specialist if you need to turn up the volume more than before, if you find it difficult to follow a conversation in noisy environments, if you frequently ask people to repeat themselves, if the loss is accompanied by ringing in the ears, discharge or vertigo, and always in children with speech delay or recurrent otitis.

When snoring is habitual and accompanied by pauses in breathing while sleeping, waking up feeling choked, unrefreshing sleep, morning headaches, or daytime drowsiness. Also if it is noticed by others at home or if there is poorly controlled hypertension.

During the consultation, the nose and pharynx are examined to identify the source of the obstruction and, when indicated, a sleep study is arranged to rule out apnoea.

When it lasts for more than two or three weeks without a cold to explain it, and always sooner if you are a smoker or if pain when swallowing, a lump in the neck, weight loss or difficulty breathing appears.

The larynx is examined in the clinic itself using fibrolaryngoscopy, which allows the movement of the vocal cords to be seen and the treatment to be decided.

Otitis and middle ear problems, hearing loss, earwax blockage, ringing in the ears, snoring and sleep apnoea, nasal obstruction and recurrent sinusitis, voice disorders and persistent throat discomfort. We treat both children and adults.

The clinic offers its own diagnostic tests —audiometry, tympanometry and fibreoptic laryngoscopy— and, when surgery is the best option, it is performed in the group's Operating Theatre Unit. Vertigo, dizziness and imbalance are assessed in the Vestibular Unit.