Otosclerosis - Questions for Otologist (interview)?

[seshu2000]

Am planning to interview an Otolaryngologist this Saturday morning as part of an educational website I am building on Otosclerosis. He has done more than 125 surgeries for Otosclerosis. Please post suggestions for questions here. Obviously, questions that are useful for the wide audience would be better than something that applies only to your situation. But if you have questions where you would like to learn more about your situation, I could ask them also – please post all relevant medical history. The interview is an educational event. NOT a consultation.

Here are some initial suggestions:

1.Are there means of detecting early onset of Otosclerosis (like a periodic checkup, examining family history for hereditary factors)?

2.Any at-home tests that people can do without audiometry equipment?

3.Any Do’s and Dont’s on behavior (avoid loud noises)

4.Vitamins/food to avoid/consume (drinking water fluoridation)?

5.As a patient considering Stepedectomy/Stapedotomy, how does one go about improving probability of success?

6.What to look for pre-surgery in myself as predictors of complications?

7.Who are some superstar Doctors/hospitals that take the extra effort that makes a difference?

8.What preparations do they do that increases the chances of success?

9.How do they structure their surgical assistants and surgical process?

10.Should I ask for any images/video to be taken during surgery that will be helpful in case corrective surgery is required in future?

11.How can I go about evaluating a hospital/surgeon? I.e., what questions should I be asking?

12.Conversely, what have you noticed as predictors of bad outcomes?

13.Dr. Telischi says "Stapes surgery ought to be performed by experienced otologists who are those who are going to dedicate their career to include middle ear surgery." Why is that? How can we find such otologists?