Benign Brain Tumor — # 2

Acoustic Neuroma #2

Symptoms and Diagnosis

I had surgery in 1994 to remove a benign brain tumor. The tumor was an acoustic neuroma, a noncancerous tumor leading from the inner ear to the brain. Acoustic neuromas, sometimes called acoustic schwannomas, grow from the eighth cranial nerve. As the tumor grows it can damage other cranial nerves causing hearing loss and numbness in the face and jaw. My initial symptoms had been hearing loss, ringing in my ear, and numbness in my jaw. Dr. Becker, at UCLA Medical Center, had done the surgery.