JOHN J. SHEA, JR., M.D. was born to be an otologic surgeon. He is the son of a famous Ear, Nose and Throat specialist, John J. Shea, Sr., M.D., 1889-1952, who founded the Shea Ear Clinic in 1926. His father selected the Harvard Medical School for him the day he was born. He planned his whole life for him to be an otologic surgeon, grade school, high school, college, medical school, resident training, etc., and Dr. Shea Jr. followed the plan.
Dr. Shea Jr. entered college at Notre Dame in May 1942, where he graduated magna cum laude, first in his class, and then went on to Harvard Medical School, where he graduated in 1947 at age 22, with honors. He took his residency training at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston, and, after this, served in the United States Navy Medical Corps during the Korean War. Dr. Shea Sr. died in November 1952, just as Dr. Shea Jr. came out of military service, so he was never to work with his father, to the great regret of both.
Dr. Shea became interested in the treatment of hearing loss at once, stimulated by the reintroduction of the mobilization of stapes operation by Rosen in 1952. He went to Los Angeles to study the fenestration operation with Howard House in 1953, and to Vienna in the winter of 1954 to study the mobilization of stapes and fenestration operations at the University of Vienna. While reviewing the literature on mobilization of stapes in the library of the University of Vienna, Doctor Shea discovered that stapedectomy had been done in Europe and the United States prior to the turn of the century, with limited success. He came to realize that stapedectomy was not necessarily fatal to the ear or the patient, and to be successful, the sound-conducting mechanism of the middle ear must be reconstructed after the stapes is removed, which had not been done in the original stapedectomy operations done in the last century. After a number of failures, because of using the wrong materials to reconstruct the sound-conducting mechanism of the middle ear, Dr. Shea performed the first successful stapedectomy operation on May 1, 1956, and the rest is history. The 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 40,000 of these operations, with recovery of hearing in more than 90%.
But this was not the only thing this creative man has done. In 1957, Doctor Shea suggested an underlay graft of vein was a better way to repair a perforation of the drum than an overlay skin graft, advocated by the two founders of tympanoplasty, Kurt Wullstein and Fritz Zollner in Germany. Now almost all otologic surgeons throughout the world use Dr. Shea's connective tissue "underlay technique in tympanoplasty operations.
It is now more than 40 years since he performed the first stapedectomy operation, at age 30, 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 Dr. Shea performed on May 1, 1956.
Since those first two discoveries in 1956 and 1957, Dr. Shea has made many numerous contributions to the understanding and treatment of ear disease, including the total ossicular replacement prosthesis (TORP) and partial ossicular replacement prosthesis (PORP), used in tympanoplasty, streptomycin perfusion of the labyrinth for Meniere's disease and many others. Dr. Shea invented almost all the instruments he uses, which are manufactured by Richards Medical Company of Memphis, which literally grew up in Memphis making his instruments.
Dr. Shea has written more than 315 scientific papers, edited one book on otologic surgery, and has conducted numerous seminars and meetings to teach others his discoveries. He is a member of more than fifty scientific societies, a Clinical Professor in the Ear, Nose and Throat Department of the University of Tennessee, University of Mississippi, University of North Carolina and Tulane University, and has received honorary doctorate degrees from Christian Brothers University and Rhodes College in Memphis, and Honorary Fellowships from the Australian and English Royal College of Surgeons, the latter being awarded in July 1992 in London for the discovery of stapedectomy.
Dr. Shea's life motto is a line from the poem by the French poet, Alfred de Vigny, "A good life is a dream in youth, realized in maturity." Dr. Shea has certainly realized that dream.
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 inner ear, passed through the drum, connected to a series of computers that measure the electrical output of the ear when sounds are introduced in the canal.
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 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, by contrast, works by blocking and reversing the immune, infectious or other insults to the inner ear, a curative procedure. Results with dexamethasone perfusion have been very good, and now otologic surgeons all over the world, informed through the Internet, are beginning to do Dr. Shea's new operation.
Dr. 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 hit him. He had lost the hearing in his right ear after a shunt operation, done elsewhere, and had a severe hearing loss in his left ear, which fluctuated widely, so that at times he could not hear at all. The hearing in this left ear would improve with large amounts of the potent steroid 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 the next 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 not tolerate enough to help him, Dr. 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 something without his hearing aid. Three 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, although most stop having dizzy spells and hear better after dexamethasone perfusion, which almost never makes the hearing worse. Best of all, dexamethasone perfusion is curative, 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 one or more times, but one dexamethasone perfusion is usually enough.
Dr. Shea has had a long and successful career, with a reputation for discovery and creativity. The Shea Ear Clinic Buillding, with connecting motel, is the modern equivalent of the Ear, Nose, and Throat Hospital of the past. In it, Dr. Shea and his associates, Doctors John Emmett and John Shea III, have created a complete diagnostic and treatment center in an outpatient setting. Patients come to the Shea Ear Clinic from all over the U.S. and other parts of the world, for the specialized diagnosis and treatment available there.
Dr. 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 Dr. 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, has kept his personal life well occupied.
In summary, Dr. 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.