NordenBladet – In early March, the Norwegian Royal Court announced that Crown Prince Haakon had to undergo surgery. The heir to the throne was admitted to hospital for one day for an operation on an exostosis in the ear canal. This week, the Crown Prince Haakon announced himself to the Norwegian News Agency NTB that he will most likely undergo the same surgery again, now on his other ear. The Crown Prince said:
“I am fine. It was not dramatic. It is simply the ear canals that have been clogged, so I had an operation. I must probably do the operation again, on the other ear. One of the things that can aggravate it is to be in cold water. I was doing a lot of wind surfing when I was younger”.
When it will happen, so far, it is not decided, but it may be this autumn. The Crown Prince told NTB the operation is not urgent. An exostosis in the ear canal is a bone outgrowth that can narrow the ear canal and may predispose to ear canal eczema and ear wax accumulation. The cause of such outgrowth appears to be a reaction in the bone tissue due to cooling or constant exposure to cold water in the ear canal. Therefore, the condition occurs especially among swimmers and surfers and is also called “surfer’s ear”. The condition is not in any way dangerous.
It was on March 4 that the royal court release the following statement:
“His Royal Highness The Crown Prince will today, on Monday, March 4, 2019, have a minor surgical intervention for exostosis in the ear canal. The surgical procedure takes place at Rikshospitalet in Oslo. As a result of the intervention, the Crown Prince will have a reduced program for the next two weeks.”
The Crown Prince has been surfing as a hobby for many years, with the Norwegian royal court publishing pictures of the family surfing as recently as 2017. The pictures were from a private holiday the Crown Prince family took in Hoddevik outside of Stadt, in the west of Norway. Some of the images were also from another surfing holiday Crown Prince Haakon had in 2016. In 2017, it was announced that His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon was asked to sit on the committee that will plan the European Championships in surfing.
Featured image: The royals on surfing (Fjordlapse Photography / Det kongelige hoff / The Royal Court)