Acquired medial canal fibrosis is a discrete clinicopathological entity characterized by formation of fibrous tissue in the bony external auditory meatus.

Over a seven-year period, a total of 14 operative procedures were performed on 12 ears involving 10 patients. Four cases had followed otitis externa, two were complications of suppurative otitis media, and three cases were iatrogenic. The cause could not be identified in three ears involving two patients.

Treatment entails excision of all the fibrous tissue and involved skin, a wide canaloplasty, a meatoplasty, and then reconstruction by split skin graft. Two cases of canal cholesteatoma were encountered. Average follow-up of two years showed hearing improvement in all patients. The only complication was a recurrence of the stenosis in two ears. The paper discusses terminology, aetiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and principles of treatment of this condition.

A meatoplasty technique is described which has proved successful in the treatment of chronic otitis externa. The procedure opens the superficial meatus by eliminating the sharp rim at the junction of the conchal bowl and the posterior canal wall cartilage; thinning the skin and increasing the circumference of the external auditory orifice.