Monklands Hospital has made history after a groundbreaking hearing operation was completed there recently.
And that saw teenager Ross Paterson become the first person in Scotland to get a revolutionary hearing implant.
The now 15-year-old started getting frequent ear infections in 2020 and was referred to an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist.
There he was diagnosed with a cholesteatoma - a pocket of skin growing into the ear, requiring urgent surgery to avoid complications such as meningitis.
But during the operation, Ross, of Dunblane, lost the hearing in his right ear because of rare complications.
He was then referred from Forth Valley to Arun Iyer, the ENT clinical lead at Airdrie's Monklands Hospital, who specialises in hearing implants.
He told Lanarkshire Live : “My hearing growing up was fine, but then I had quite a lot of ear infections.
"It was a bit of a shock and quite difficult after I lost the hearing in my right ear, but I just got on with things and tried to stay positive as opposed to trying to change things that can’t be changed - I still had one good ear.
After NHS Lanarkshire assessment, Ross was offered a ground-breaking Cochlear Osia syste as opposed to the standard treatment called a bone-anchored hearing aid, which is normally used for people with hearing loss associated with problems in their outer or middle ears, or those with profound hearing loss in one ear.
The Cochlear Osia system uses a special type of implant that goes underneath the skin, with a magnetic microphone.
That sends a signal to the piezo-electric implant under the skin which creates a vibration through to the skull that then passes the sound to his good ear.
The actual implant was carried out in April at Monklands Hospital and Ross has had some follow up appointments with the audiology team to get the device activated and ensure it is calibrated to Ross’ level of hearing loss and to see how he was healing after the operation.
Arun explained: “The Osia system is a fantastic new piece of technology that can be life-changing for patients as there is less chance of infections or complications.
"You can simply take the device on or off as you need it, so you can’t tell the patient has had anything done.”
Ross recalls starting to pull away from social situations as it was difficult to hear friends, as well as "getting tired" at the end of each day.
Calling the operation a "game changer," he says he can now be in bigger groups and hear conversations "really well".
Arun hopes others will be able to benefit from this technology, calling the advancement of technology "life-changing".
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