I am concerned that I have hearing damage after using Otomize ear spray. Please comment.

Hello doctor,

I am very concerned that I have hearing damage as a result of using "Otomize" ear spray (contains Neomycin). I had itchy ears (but no pain nor discharge), and my doctor prescribed me Otomize spray (3 times per day for seven days). I stopped using after day four because my ears felt numb inside, and I started getting bad tinnitus (I had not experienced tinnitus before). It is 24/7 ringing in my ears and is utterly debilitating. I read online studies that had shown that this antibiotic is toxic to the middle ear or the inner ear and can kill the sensory nerves causing deafness and tinnitus. I feel like it is having this effect on me. I went back to the doctor, and he told me that it is not possible due to the spray because it has to get through the eardrums and cannot do so unless I have a perforated eardrum. He has assured me I do not have that. Just prior to the prescribed spray, I had an ear test, and it showed that I had slight damage in my ability to hear high-pitched noises on my right side. He told me that any tinnitus would be related to that. I am dubious of this because if I damaged my ear through the noise, the most recent possible time this could have happened is several weeks earlier when I had my ears suctioned for earwax (I feel some discomfort at the time as a result of the screeching next to my eardrum). I am seeking a second opinion because I feel that my ears are being damaged or have been damaged as a result of the spray, and I do not see why I was prescribed this spray over hydrocortisone. My tinnitus is debilitating, and I understand that it may be permanent. I am keen for your advice.

Hi doctor,

Thank you so much for your response.

I have arranged to see a separate ENT specialist tomorrow, so hopefully, he can do the appropriate tests to ensure there is no perforation. I do not know anything regarding the hearing damage. I suspect it was about seven weeks earlier when I had micro-ear suction to remove wax as my ear did feel some discomfort in the immediate aftermath either that or perhaps before that as I was itching my ear a lot with my finger aggressively in order to create the vibration to satisfy the itch. I certainly cannot see how it is possible that I damaged my hearing within six weeks period before I used the spray, and I started feeling tinnitus from day 1 of using the spray (in both ears), so it is difficult for me to relate the tinnitus to the initial damage and not the spray. I will try to check the status of potential perforations tomorrow. I struggle to understand why I was prescribed Otomize and not just a topical steroid solution, given that Neomycin is well known to be tremendously toxic to the inner ear if it gets in there. I had no discharge in my ear nor any pain prior to the prescription, and so it did not appear to be an infection that would warrant an antibiotic like this.