Cochlear implants are high-tech medical devices that help hearing-impaired people perceive audio information. Although not a complete cure for deafness, these enable people to listen and live life normally.
For some people, this is a life-changing intervention. For others, these cause more harm than good.
Doctors push these devices as miracles. Only an implant cochlear lawyer knows what’s going on in the background. With several implant-related lawsuits piling up, it’s high time you consider the risks associated with the procedure.
Facial Nerve Injury
The facial nerve, found in the middle ear, gives movement to the muscles of your face. Since it lies close to where the implant needs to be placed, it can be injured during the procedure.
This causes excessive weakening and even full paralysis on the side of the face as the implant.
Fluid Leakage
The procedure can cause cerebrospinal fluid leakage, perilymph fluid leakage, or both. These in turn cause severe headaches, dizziness, and seizures.
Cerebrospinal leakage happens when the fluid that surrounds your brain leaks from the hole created by the procedure. Similarly, perilymph leakage occurs when the inner ear or cochlea gets a hole from the implant.
Therefore, we recommended you talk this through with your audiologist and implant cochlear lawyer beforehand.
Taste Disturbance
The nerve that gives you a taste sensation also goes through the middle ear. When a cochlear implant takes place, it could be injured.
This leads to temporary or permanent distortion in your gustatory system. Some wearers even report a permanent loss of taste.
Different Sound Perception
After the procedure, your hearing won’t return to normal. According to patients who could hear before they became deaf, sound from an implant differs from normal hearing.
These users describe the sound as mechanical or technical, like a robot talking in your ear.
Prone to Static Electricity
You need to be wary of static electricity, as it can temporarily or permanently damage your cochlear implant.
Since the device stimulates your nerves directly with electrical currents, a malfunction could give you frequent body spasms.
So, you’ll have to keep removing the device before contacting static-generating materials like screens and synthetic fabrics. Else, you risk damaging your implant, which can compromise your safety.
Final Words
Cochlear implants propagate the idea that deaf people need fixing. This is against the norms of deaf culture and community.
Still, if you decide to get it done, make sure you have an implant cochlear lawyer at your side.
