Balance Disorders

Dizziness, vertigo and other balance disorders are rather common problems and the physicians at C/V will work towards identifying the cause of your balance disorder and subsequently providing appropriate options for treatment of your problem. Our balance system is a network of interconnections between our eyes, inner ears and special nerve endings in our spinal cord. When one of these organs is not fuctioning at 100% then the system will send inappropriate input into the processing center, which is our brain, and as such we will feel dizzy, off-balance or vertiginous (spinning).

The ENT surgeon specializes at identifying if the inner ear may be the cause of this imbalance. The inner ear contains the vestibular system in addition to the hearing apparatus which allows us to sense directional changes when we turn our head, acceleration or deceleration, or gravity changes. Certain ailments such as severe ear infections, viral illnesses (i.e. vestibular neuritis or acute labyrinthitis), head trauma, Meniere’s Disease, or benign conditions like benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) can affect the inner ear and as such cause us to be vertiginous. Here at C/V ENT Surgical Group in Calabasas, Dr. Jerome Vener and Dr. Alen Cohen, will work with you and their audiologist to perform various examinations to arrive at a diagnosis for the cause of your balance disorder and then institute appropriate treatment. Often times this workup may include an electronystagmogram (ENG). This is an exam where our audiologist will perform various tests to determine if the etiology of your balance disorder is peripheral (the inner ear) or central (the eyes, spinal cord or brain processing center).