Allergic to hearing aids
I had been wearing bilateral hearing aids (BTE) for about 3-4 years when, I too, experienced considerable itching and draining in both ears after wearing my hearing aids. My ENT prescribed mutiple prescriptions with little or no lasting relief. My hearing got worse as this went on. After a year of this craziness, he recommended I see a dermatologist. I saw one locally who after hearing my story said I might be allergic to a material in my hearing aids - he thought perhaps methyl methacrylate. He did give me a prescription for Clobetasol which is a liquid steriod that he told me to use sparingly and infrequently because it was one of those super drugs. He told me I needed to get the Material Safety Data Sheets for my hearing aids and fax them to him so he could see what they were made of. With some trouble from the place I got the hearing aids I was able to get it. I faxed them to the doctor. He then called me and said there were a type of acrylates in the hearing aids and there are only 3 doctors in the Chicago area that could do skin patch testing for this and they were all north. He contacted Dr. Mary Martini at Northwestern Memorial Hospital explained what was going on and her office then called me with an appointment. I brought my hearing aids, the records from my ENT and the all important Material Safety Data Sheets. We then set up a series of 3 visits that she would do the skin patch testings. Before the test appointments, I spent time researching this type of allergy to these acrylates. First I found out that acrylates are in hard plastics and in cements/adhesives. I kept seeing it in reference to contact dermatitis in people working in the dental industry or in dental patients. Wow! Maybe this would explain my sore mouth. I had already figured out that when my ears were at there worst, my mouth was too. If the ears got better, so did my mouth. I contacted a dentist who had done some recent work and he did the legwork to obtain the material safety data sheets for the materials he used doing the dental restorative work. I brought those with me to my appointment at Northwestern Memorial Hospital The results - I'm sensitive (allergic) to 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate which is a stated material in my hearing aids. If I wear them for the shortest amount of time, I develop severe contact dermatitis with itching, runnning, crusting ears that then become host to secondary infections. So I can no longer wear my hearing aids. As a result of the contact dermatitis and infections, I've lost more hearing. Because I'm so highly allergic to the 2-hydroxythyl acrylate, I risk developing cross referencing allergies to other acrylates. After the testing was completed, it was explained to me that as a referral physician, she had gotten an answer for why I was sent there and I was sent back to the local dermatologist. WHen I asked him about the allergies in my ears - his response was.....I don't know anything about allergies. I asked him where we were in the process and he said he was done with me and he was sending me back to the ENT. The ENT said he knows ears, but doesn't know anything about contact dermatitis. My primary care is deferring to the specialists. I called a dentist here and he was totally unfamiliar with this type of allergic reaction, but I could come in and talk to him. $$ I then decided maybe I needed an allergist to quarterback all this and coordinate some multidisciplanary treatment. I made an appointment with one, brought with the records and timeline, explained it all to him. He said he had no idea what I was talking about and that he was completely unfamiliar with this and that he wasn't my guy. But he did find it fascinating. Still no one treating the problem. After all this, I decided I needed to be in a university setting with research. I called Dr Mary Martini @ Northwestern Memorial Hospital and explained to her all the doctors I seen since she had finished the testing and that I needed to see someone who could help me, that there wasn't anyone on the south side for me. She said that as long as the material is still in my mouth, my ears will never get better. The contact dermatitis with all it's symptoms would still be there. WHich means I'll keep losing more hearing. I contacted all the dentists I've seen in the last 40 years to find out what materials they've used for my fillings, crowns, bridge. I'm currently undergoing another round of skin patch testings (116 materials this time) because we've discovered the same material that is in the hearing aids is also in my dental work. So......why am I telling all of you this.....because if this story can help one person, then it's worth my telling it. I've read so many posts that people have this itching running ears and their doctors keep prescribing medicines but no one says anything about those symptoms being an allergic reaction. If you experience the unrelenting itching, running ears that don't get better, tell your ENT you want to be tested.
Jk 
