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Second opinion

Before an operation, after a disappointing one, or when the plan does not add up. A second opinion does not replace your surgeon; it checks the reasoning and widens the options.

When it helps

  • Before surgery — you have been offered an operation and want the reasoning tested against the seven questions, or you have been told there is no alternative.
  • Between options — you are deciding between a hearing aid and stapedotomy, between operating and waiting, or between one ear and the other.
  • After surgery — the result was not what was expected, or has faded, and a revision is being proposed. This is where a review adds most: revision should begin with revising the diagnosis.
  • When the picture does not fit — a complex conductive loss, a normal eardrum with an unexplained gap, symptoms that do not match the audiogram.
  • For an only-hearing ear, where any risk needs a second look.

What a review consists of

A second opinion on this platform is a documentary review: it is based on the records you provide, not on an examination. It covers:

  1. Whether the diagnosis is supported by the audiogram, tympanometry, reflexes, imaging and history, and what else could explain the findings.
  2. Whether the proposed treatment addresses that diagnosis, what result can realistically be expected, and how it compares with the alternatives.
  3. What is being preserved and what the risks are, in numbers where the evidence allows.
  4. Which further tests, if any, would change the decision.
  5. A written summary you can take back to your own surgeon.

It does not replace an in-person consultation, cannot confirm findings that require examination, and does not constitute treatment. Where a procedure is needed that is not offered here, the summary says so and suggests the kind of centre to look for.

What to send

  • Audiograms, ideally all of them, with dates and the ear marked — including bone conduction and speech scores.
  • Tympanometry and reflex results if available.
  • Imaging reports and, if possible, the images themselves (CT/MRI on disc or via a secure link).
  • Previous operative reports and discharge letters.
  • A short account in your own words: what you notice, what you have been told, what you have been offered, and what you want to know.

Do not send anything you are not comfortable sharing; see the privacy notice for how records are handled.

How to request one

Use the contact form and select “Second opinion”. You will receive a reply describing the next steps, what can be reviewed remotely, the timescale, and the fee where applicable. Consultations in person — with otoscopy under the microscope, audiometry and, where needed, additional tests on the day — take place at the practice in Colombiers, France; how such a consultation works and what to bring is on grolman-orl.fr. Video consultation is possible where appropriate and permitted.

A note on independence

A second opinion is only useful if it is free to disagree with the first — and free to disagree with the idea of surgery at all. The most valuable conclusion is sometimes that the original plan is right; the second most valuable is that no operation is needed.

This page provides general educational information. It cannot replace an individual assessment, which depends on a full history, examination, audiometry and, where relevant, imaging. If you have sudden hearing loss, severe pain, facial weakness, severe dizziness or discharge with fever, seek medical care promptly.