Eustation tube dilation / Ear Popper mechanism

[Randy1957]

The ear popper will work IF you have reasonably functioning (or nearly so) eustachian tubes (ET)...but then so will the valsalva maneuver. If the tubes are compromised sufficiently then the popper won't work. So I would not throw good money after bad on one. WGPA closed up my left ET such that I have to have a fresh myringotomy, suction and tube inserted annually. The balloon dilation procedure we tried a year ago was a fail. My theory, which my ENT endorsed, is that like the collapse of my nose cartilage, WGPA permanently damaged the integrity of the ET cartilage, such that it wouldn't hold open after the dilation. I suspect the lumen still reflexively opens and closes but everything upstream has collapsed, so it doesn't matter. (WGPA also made my right ET and lumen patulous, always open, which provides a whole other set of annoying symptoms, but at least it drains!)