John J. Shea, Jr., M.D. is the son of Ear, Nose and Throat specialist John J. Shea, Sr., M.D. (1889-1952). Dr. Shea, Jr. attended Notre Dame, where he graduated magna cum laude, and Harvard Medical School, where he graduated with honors in 1947. He did his residency at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston and served in the United States Navy Medical Corps during the Korean War.

Doctor Shea has pioneered numerous techniques in the treatment of hearing loss and dizziness, developed many instruments and prostheses to restore hearing, and worked to advance the knowledge and understanding of the treatment of ear disease. He is a Clinical Professor in the Ear, Nose and Throat Departments of the University of Tennessee, the University of Mississippi, the University of North Carolina and Tulane University. He is a member of more than fifty scientific societies and has received honorary doctorates from Christian Brothers University and Rhodes College in Memphis and honorary fellowships from the Australian and English Royal College of Surgeons.

It is now fifty-three years since Doctor Shea performed the first stapedectomy operation to cure the most common and dreaded cause of conductive hearing loss.

A lot has changed since then. The stapedectomy operation he discovered is now performed all over the world, and millions of people have had their hearing restored by it.

On May 2-3, 1996, more than 100 doctors from all over the United States, Europe, China and Japan gathered in Memphis to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of this First Stapedectomy Operation Doctor Shea performed on May 1, 1956. That first patient was a 54-year old housewife, so hard of hearing she could no longer hear with a hearing aid. He removed the stapes, which was considered fatal to the hearing and sometimes to the patient, covered the oval window opening with a vein graft removed from the back of the patient's hand, and inserted a Teflon replica of the stapes. This first patient could hear well at once, and continued to hear well for the rest of her life. The rest is history. The stapedectomy operation he discovered solved the problem of otosclerosis, the most common cause of conductive hearing loss, and is now done all over the world. He has done nearly 25,000 of these stapedectomy operations, with recovery of hearing in more than 90%.

But this was not the only thing this creative man has done. The year after the first stapedectomy operation, he discovered that an eardrum perforation would heal if you put a layer of connective tissue, such as a piece of vein, beneath it. This idea made repairing perforations of the eardrum practical. Now, his connective tissue underlay graft operation is done by otologic surgeons all over the world to close eardrum perforations, and millions of people have been rid of infection and hear better because of it.

In association with the Richards Medical Company, here in Memphis, now Gyrus LLC, and the late Harry Treace, he has developed a steady stream of new instruments, prostheses and other devices used by otologic surgeons all over the world, to help patients with loss of hearing and balance.

His main interest now is Meniere's disease, and other causes of loss of hearing and balance. Meniere's disease is due to an increased pressure in the inner ear, and in this way is similar to "glaucoma of the eye." To confirm the diagnosis of Meniere's disease, the pressure in the inner ear is measured by an electrode on the eardrum, connected to a series of computers that measure the electrical output of the ear when sounds are introduced in the canal. This makes the diagnosis of Meniere's disease certain if the pressure is increased.

Being dissatisfied with the treatments and operations being done for Meniere's disease, he conducted a ten-year study of the cause and natural history of Meniere's disease to devise a better treatment. Realizing that Meniere's disease usually occurs in an ear with an inadequate drainage system from birth, and is triggered by an immune, infectious or other insult to the inner ear, he began to perfuse the inner ear through the middle ear, first with streptomycin, which had been done before, and then the potent steroid dexamethasone. Results with these perfusion operations have been very good, much better than with any of the other operations for Meniere's disease. Streptomycin perfusion works by inactivating the balance receptors in the inner ear. Dexamethasone perfusion works by blocking and reversing the immune, infectious or other insults to the inner ear, a curative procedure, and in this way reducing the inner ear pressure. Results with dexamethasone and/or streptomycin perfusion have been very good, and now otologic surgeons all over the world are beginning to do Doctor Shea's new perfusion operation.

Doctor Shea's first dexamethasone perfusion patient has been his best result, and one of his most interesting stories. Kenneth Keys, a 51-year old manager of a Piccadilly Restaurant, came to him because of severe dizzy spells, nausea and vomiting, due to Meniere's disease, so severe he would fall to the ground when they came. He had lost the hearing in his right ear after an endolymphatic shunt operation, done elsewhere, and had a severe hearing loss in the left ear, which fluctuated widely, so that at times he could not hear at all. The hearing in this left ear would improve with dexamethasone by mouth, but he could not tolerate more than a few weeks of dexamethasone by mouth without an intolerable reaction. He could no longer work because of his falling dizzy spells. One morning his wife called to say Ken awoke not able to hear anything, not even his own voice. When tested at the SHEA EAR CLINIC later the same day, he had lost all measurable hearing in this one remaining left ear. Because he had responded to dexamethasone by mouth in the past, but could no longer tolerate it by mouth, Doctor Shea thought he might be able to get enough into his inner ear by perfusion from his middle ear through his round window membrane. This he did, and the rest is history. After the first perfusion, Ken could hear his own voice again, after the second, he could hear something with his hearing aid, and after the third perfusion, he could hear well without his hearing aid. Ten years later, he is back at work, without dizzy spells, and able to hear well enough to get along without a hearing aid. No other patient has recovered this much hearing after dexamethasone perfusion, although most stop having dizzy spells and have less fullness and noise after streptomycin/dexamethasone perfusion. Best of all, streptomycin/dexamethasone perfusion is usually curative, it lowers the inner ear pressure and it blocks and reverses the immune, infectious or other insult to the inner ear that is the trigger for Meniere's disease. If necessary, it can be repeated, but one streptomycin/dexamethasone perfusion is usually enough.

Xylocaine perfusion plus intravenous xylocaine/dexamethasone gives relief from tinnitus in 75% of patients.

Doctor Shea has had a long and successful career, with a reputation for discovery and creativity. The SHEA EAR CLINIC Building, with a connecting walkway to the Residence Inn, is the modern equivalent of the Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital of the past. In it, Doctor Shea and his associates, John R. Emmett, M.D., Gregory Staffel, M.D., and his son, Paul F. Shea, M.D., have created a complete diagnostic, treatment and surgery center in an outpatient setting. Patients come to the SHEA EAR CLINIC from all over the U.S. and all over the world, for the specialized diagnosis and treatment of ear disease.

Beginning with graduation from Notre Dame in one and a half years, magna cum laude, and from Harvard Medical School at age 22, his career has been exceptional in every way. After training at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston, he served two years in the Army and Navy during the Korean War. In 1952, the year his father died and he got out of the service, Dr. Shea took over the SHEA EAR CLINIC, founded by his father in 1926, and began the outstanding work that has made it so well-known.

Doctor Shea is a gentle, mild-mannered man, much beloved by his patients and those who work with him. The awards, honorary degrees, fellowships, memberships in medical societies all over the U.S. and the world, and recognition by so many, have not changed Doctor Shea. He has the memory of his beloved father, an outstanding doctor, the founder of the SHEA EAR CLINIC, as his life role model.

Being married to a former Miss America from Mississippi, Lynda Lee Mead, with five successful children, he has had a successful personal life as well.

In summary, Doctor Shea Jr. is that rare type of creative, caring doctor that happened along, as he says, "When things were right for the discoveries I have made." He is now working on an implantable hearing aid for those with nerve deafness. "This must be done" for those who need a hearing aid and do not want to wear one in the ear canal. From the way he is going, he will continue to work until the implantable hearing aid, on which he is working now, is a reality, and probably a lot more.