ANA Discussion Forum
General Category => Hearing Issues => Topic started by: brendaclee3 on June 25, 2014, 10:39:11 pm
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If someone has decided to have their abutment taken out, could you tell me why and what the procedure entailed.
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Can we assume you mean the titanium abutment implanted for a bone-anchored hearing device? If so, I think it is a relatively easy procedure to take the outer screw off and allow the skin to grow over it again (I am not a doctor, so you need to ask the physician who put it in.). However, if you want the entire titanium piece removed, to my knowledge, since the titanium osseointegrates with your skull bone, it would mean removal of part of the bone surrounding it. (Again, I am not a doctor so you need to ask!)
The only cases I personally know who needed to remove it were people with an allergic reaction to titanium (very rare) or an infection that would not resolve.
Let us know more about why your question. Thanks.
Clarice
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Typically the rod imbedded in the skull is left in - mainly because in order to remove it they'd have to literally cut it out of your skull.
The top of the abutment is just unscrewed - by your doc in his/her office with a special screwdriver - then the skin on the skull grows over it.
Not sure why you don't like your BAHA. Can you give us an idea? When I had my implant in 2008 my doc had done over 200 implants and he told me that only 1 patient didn't like hers. I thought that was a very telling statistic; it was one of the things that lead me to go ahead with the implant and I've never been sorry. Would do it again in a heartbeat.
Jan