BAHA mrsa infections and removal

[qtrhrse15]

I had my surgery on May 3rd and its been a roller coaster ever since. The first few weeks of healing was wonderful no issue and life was good just wanting till the day to actual see the audiologist and get my device up and running baha 5.   Well, the weeks went by and pain became an issue along with crusting from a bit of discharge.  Was put on cipro for one week that did not work so i was put on for another 2 weeks an a culture was taken.  This time the culture came up MRSA so they put me on a drug known to kill the the infection clindmaycin  (sp?) this was great for the first 7 days then day 8 to 10 pain returned and discharged remained. The area seem to never of gotten worse but we are a cross road where my ent does not know what to do. We agreed for me to see an infectious disease doctor and get there input for the goal was not to lose this abutment.  Saw what i though was a MD but later realized was a pa and her decision was that the whole thing be removed as in the one in the skull.  Not exactly happy with this decision because its not an easy surgery when something has become a peice of your skull. So long story short back to same clinic to see the MD who has very good ratings.  Has anyone has issue with MRSA and having to lose the abutment ?   

[milhaus]

I'm not sure if I had MRSA, I don't remember if I was tested or not but I did suffer from repeated infections around by abutment. I got an infection very soon after getting it implanted. I took antibiotics which did the trick, only to have the infection return nearly as soon as I stopped taking them. Even the mupirocin ointment we used every day didn't prevent another infection from occuring. My wife cleaned the abutment per doctor's instructions every day for months and I still had trouble. One of them was bad enough the decision was made to remove the portion of the abutment that sticks out of the skin, leaving the part in the bone, then sewing it shut to let the infection heal. I had to miss a lot of work because there was a half inch open, exposed, pus filled area around the abutment. My work environment at the time was very dusty so my doctor didn't want me exposed to that with an open infection. Then the abutment was put back on later after the infection had sufficiently healed.

Eventually, I got another infection and just decided to get it taken out for good. If I felt like the BAHA 5 had been helping me, I probably would have fought harder to keep it but I did not like my BAHA. I found myself continually being scolded by my wife for not wearing it. Basically I just felt like there were only two options with the BAHA. One was to have the volume turned down low, but then I didn't get much of any benefit from it because I couldn't hear enough of what was coming through it. The other option was to have the volume turned up, in which case I could hear so much that I didn't want to hear that it distracted me from what I did want to hear.

One of the problems we SSD people face is difficulty filtering out the sounds we want to hear in noisy environments. I found that when the BAHA was turned up loud enough that I could hear anything through it it just added more noise that I had to filter through. If I am at work and am trying to listen to a customer, and filter their voice out of the background conversation in the room, it only makes it harder if I have to also filter out the sound of the fan running on the ceiling. I could never find any happy medium with the volume. I have found I prefer silence and being unable to hear than hearing too much to make any sense of it anyway. I know it is supposed to help you hear sound coming from your deaf side, and it did, but the cost was too great for me. The pros did not outweigh the cons.

Many people rave about their BAHA's. I originally decided to try it because I saw a lot of people saying theirs really helped them. But that was not my experience. I don't really want to discourage anyone, but for me the BAHA cost me thousands of dollars (even with insurance), weeks of time off work(mostly due to wide open infections), repeated trips to the doctor, a lot of pain, a spot on the side of my head that is still sensitive to touch a year after getting it removed(and also doesn't grow hair), and never really gave me any benefit.

I hope most people get a great deal of benefit from theirs and don't have the trouble I did, but I think it is important to share the negative stories too so people can make a balanced decision when deciding to get one. Good luck to you qtrhrse15. You are not alone with the infection issues, but I hope you get a better outcome than me.

[alabamajane]

Qtrhrse15
I am sorry you are experiencing so much pain and infection with your implant. I know it is difficult.

I currently have a BAHA 5 power since June and had a BAHA 4 before this one since 2014. I have never had a serious infection though. I have had very minor irritation around the abutment but nothing to even take meds for. Just good cleaning and a little alcohol swab.

I wonder if your doctor that implanted it would recommend taking abutment off post and trying to get the infection cleared up much like Milhaus suggested,,, and then trying it again before removing it completely,,??,, I also wonder if that PA asked an MD associated with her about her opinion to have it out??? She may not have much experience with BAHAs ,,, not too many medical professionals do,,,

Milhaus,, I'm sorry to hear about all of your bad experiences also,,, I felt the same way about
my 4 but since upgrading to the 5 power,, I am extremely happy. I had my audiologist program 4 different settings into processor and I am able to switch between them in different settings to get the amount of noise reduction I need,,, it's so much more user friendly than the 4,,, but I also agree that not everyone is as satisfied with the hearing ( or lack thereof) that they get from any BAHA,,, it does take getting used to ,, and there are many days around the house that I don't wear it just because SSD is not that bothersome. I went 3 years as SSD before getting my first BAHA. But I do love the 5 power!!

Good luck to you qtrhrse15,,, I truly hope you get some relief soon!!

Jane