Ruwan Kiringoda, M.D.

I strongly believe in a patient-centered approach to care. There is no bigger decision than deciding whether and when to have surgery, and I do my best to empower patients to make the best choices. Sometimes the best choice may not be surgery at all!

My deepest passion is serving as the Medical Director of the PAMF cochlear implant program. I work closely with a talented group of audiologists to be able to offer hearing restoration surgery to patients who have been born deaf or acquired severe hearing loss. Helping my patients who have become deaf regain the ability to hear is one of the most satisfying aspects of my job, and continuing to perfect my technique and approach is a major focus for me.

I am an advocate for minimally invasive techniques where appropriate. For example, endoscopic ear surgery allows many ear surgeries to be done without the need for large external incisions behind or around the ear.

I work closely with neurosurgeons, radiologists, and radiation oncology physicians to offer a multidisciplinary management strategy for acoustic neuromas, slow-growing and benign tumors of the hearing and balance nerves. In many cases, these can be safely treated with observation or stereotactic radiation therapy, rather than the traditional approach of surgery. I collaborate with my patients to develop a coordinated treatment plan based on each individual’s situation.

I am an ENT (ear, nose, and throat specialist) who focuses primarily on disorders of the ear and skull base. Ear issues that I primarily focus on include hearing loss and cochlear implants, primary and revision ear surgery for tympanic membrane perforations and cholesteatoma, surfer’s ear (exostosis), otosclerosis, and Meniere’s disease.

My other major area of specialization is in disorders of the lateral skull base, such as acoustic neuromas (vestibular schwannomas) and meningiomas of the cerebellopontine angle, superior canal dehiscence, and cerebrospinal fluid leaks of the ear and mastoid.