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The celebrated writer and poet, Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on 16 October 1854 in Dublin. At the age of 46, he died destitute in a Parisian hotel. Wilde’s premature death had previously been attributed to tertiary neurosyphilis.
However, subsequent reports have shown that Wilde died of intra-cerebral complications secondary to a chronic suppurative right middle ear disease, probably #cholesteatoma
#eardiease
#eardiease
In 1895, prior to his incarceration and prompted by comments from his friends regarding his hearing, Wilde consulted Sir William Dalby, aural surgeon to St George’s Hospital, who reassured him that there was no cause for concern.
However, while in prison, Wilde complained of intense headaches, #deafness, giddiness, sickness, otalgia and a persistent bloody discharge emanating from his #ear. Medical notes from the time record the presence of a tympanic membrane perforation and foul smelling #otorrhoea
Following his release from prison, Wilde consulted Dr Maurice A’Court Tucker, of the British Embassy, and an ENT Surgeon, Dr Klei. Wilde underwent aural surgery on 10 October 1900, it has been suggested that the procedure may have been a radical #mastoidectomy.
Although Wilde’s condition initially improved following surgery, he relapsed, by the end of November 1900 was unable to rise from his bed. Wilde’s death certificate, signed by Dr A’Court Tucker and the French doctor, Dr Paul Claisse states that Wilde died of meningoencephalitis
Writers on the topic have pointed out the final irony in the life of this great satirist. Oscar Wilde’s father was Sir William Robert Wills Wilde, an eminent Surgeon in Dublin whose eponymous retro-auricular ‘Wilde’s incision’ is often the starting point in middle #earsurgery
This thread has been sourced from the history of ENT article Oscar Wilde’s Final Irony by Philippe F de Z Bowles. Read it in full here > https://bit.ly/336lnHE
