He bids farewell to hearing aid after difficult surgery

Having suffered from hearing loss for 1.5 years in Trabzon, Ali İbrahimbaş started to hear again with a rarely performed surgery.

Living in the Surmene district, Ibrahimbas could not find a solution to his complaints in the various hospitals he applied to due to his hearing loss.

Having lost all hearing in his left ear for the last 1.5 years and using a hearing aid due to hearing loss in his right ear, 53-year-old İbrahimbaş applied to a hospital in the city again after his dizziness complaints started.

After the tests, İbrahimbaş was referred to Karadeniz Technical University Farabi Hospital and was examined by Dr. Lecturer Ali Samet Topsakal in the hospital's Brain and Nerve Surgery Department.

As a result of the check-ups and examinations carried out by Topsakal, it was determined that a vein of İbrahimbaş's birth was pressing on the auditory nerve in the center of the brain, and that due to this pressure, he gradually lost his hearing ability over time.

İbrahimbaş regained his hearing ability with a rare operation performed by Topsakal and his team.

Dr. Faculty Member Ali Samet Topsakal told AA correspondent that the patient applied to the hospital about a month ago with progressive hearing loss.

Topsakal, who stated that many tests were performed on the patient, said, "There is a nerve that comes out of the center of the brain and goes to the ear and allows us to hear. In the tests we performed, we saw that a vein in our patient's brain from birth was pressing on the auditory nerve in the center of the brain. We realized that he lost his hearing over time due to this pressure."

Topsakal stated that they shared the situation with the patient after the diagnosis and said, "We thought about whether we could save his hearing by separating this vein from the nerve it was pressing. We explained the situation to Mr. Ali, said that he could benefit from this and our patient agreed to have surgery."

Emphasizing that the surgery was performed successfully, Topsakal noted:

"During the surgery, we entered from behind the ear and separated the auditory nerve in the center of the brain from the vein that was pressing it. When we came out of the surgery, we started chatting with Mr. Ali. He was using headphones before. We were very happy when we saw that he could hear us without headphones."

Dr. Faculty Member Topsakal pointed out that the surgery they performed was a difficult and rare operation and made the following assessment:

"We enter this area behind the ear, in the center of the brain, which we call the brainstem, where vital processes take place, where all the centers from heartbeat to respiration, including the auditory nerves, are located. It is a difficult surgery, a special surgery. It is not a surgery performed everywhere."

Ali İbrahimbaş said that he had been applying to hospitals for years due to hearing loss but could not find a solution to his complaints.

Explaining that he reached out to Topsakal upon the advice of another doctor, İbrahimbaş continued as follows:

"We had our surgery. It was a very nice, successful surgery. I couldn't hear at all. I had a lot of problems with my ears. I'm fine now. Our doctor said, 'It will get better as time goes on.' May God bless you. Hopefully it will get better. I don't have any problems right now."

Expressing the difficulties of hearing loss, İbrahimbaş said, "First of all, it is very nice to regain my hearing, I am happy. Hopefully, I will hear even better."