Ear Conditions & Surgery

Dr  Altmann is happy to see patients with all ear conditions. He can usually see patients with painful outer ear infections (otitis externa) on day of referral or next working day if his receptionist Bev is contacted directly by your referring GP.

As a child and teenager, Dr Altmann spent most weekends with his family water skiing at Lake Kurwongbah, Atkinson’s Dam and Somerset Dam in South East Qld. Associated mud fights when not water skiing led to frequent very painful bouts of outer ear infection and even more painful ear syringing by his local GP.

Dr Altmann believes that ear clean outs should usually not hurt!

It takes about 6 months of performing multiple microscopic ear clean outs daily for most ENT residents and registrars to reach the point where their ear suction causes no pain.

Dr Altmann can usually see patients for painless microscopic removal of wax within a few working days of referral and has many loyal patients who return regularly for cleaning of their ears.

Many young children surprisingly enjoy having their ears cleaned and some even demand this service when they visit Dr Altmann!

Dr Altmann is happy to perform most ear surgery, though when a patient with complicated ear disease is reviewed, Dr Altmann will often refer on such patients to his colleague, Dr Shane Anderson who specialises in ear surgery.

If visiting Dr Altmann for removal of ear wax Dr Altmann prefers the patient to instil a cap full of room temperature cooking olive oil into the affected ear(s) every night for a week prior to their appointment with a cotton wool ball in the ear overnight and using their oldest pillow case and linen during this week. This will make removal of ear wax easier.