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Thrombosis is a characteristic symptom of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Here, we present a case of external ear stenosis caused by arterial thrombosis after COVID-19 infection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of external ear stenosis related to COVID-19. A 62-year-old man presented with left hearing loss. The patient had a history of hospitalization for COVID-19 treatment 11 months prior to visiting our hospital. He had been experiencing ear fullness and tinnitus after COVID-19 treatment. Physical examination revealed severe left external ear canal stenosis with a subcutaneous mass. Surgical removal of the subcutaneous mass was performed. Histopathological analysis revealed that a subcutaneous thrombosis caused the external ear canal stenosis. This case describes an unusual case of external ear canal stenosis after COVID-19. Clinical and pathological findings indicate that COVID-19 affected the external ear canal. In addition, histopathological results confirmed the formation of arterial thrombosis in the temporal bone region after COVID-19 treatment. This case shows the broad range of body sites that can be involved with thrombotic events with COVID including the subcutaneous tissue around the outer ear. This observation would be helpful in investigating or explaining the various otological symptoms of COVID-19., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Relapsing polychondritis (RP) is a rare chronic inflammatory disease characterized by recurrent inflammation of cartilages throughout the body, with treatment-resistant dizziness and hearing loss in 40%-50% of patients with RP. Although rare, severe binaural hearing loss in RP is an indication for cochlear implantation (CI). Therefore, there are only a few reports on CI insertion in cases of RP. This report describes a 68-year-old woman who developed binaural hearing loss due to RP. She was treated with steroids and immunosuppressive drugs; however, her hearing did not improve significantly, and she relied on written communication for conversation. Subsequently, the patient underwent CI in the right ear. The patient showed improvement in speech perception; at 14 months postoperatively, she was able to speak with lipreading, and at 2 years postoperatively, she was able to speak without lipreading. Previous case reports on CI in patients with RP have shown varying degrees of postoperative hearing improvement. Our case demonstrates the effectiveness of CI in improving hearing and speech recognition in patients with RP having semicircular canal calcification. However, previous reports have shown that speech recognition declines 13 years after CI for RP. Therefore, continuous long-term follow-up is necessary., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.