Objective: To honor the former King Mahidol of Thailand, Songklanagarind Hospital offers a special clinic with free myringoplasties to patients on the day designated as Mahidol Day each year. This study was undertaken to compare and report on the results of regularly scheduled myringoplasties in Songklanagarind Hospital during a 2-year period compared with those performed on one Mahidol Day.

Design: Retrospective descriptive study.

Materials and methods: Fifty-eight ears of myringoplasties were performed in Songklanagarind Hospital from January 2005 to December 2006 and 36 were performed on Mahidol Day, 24 September 2006. The charts of all cases were reviewed for age, sex, clinical presentation and operative results.

Results: Successful tympanic membrane grafting occurred in 86.2% of routine surgery cases and 61.1% of the special Mahidol surgeries. The hearing threshold was improved and the air-bone gap (ABG) level reduced to less than 20 dB in 85.4% of routine surgery cases and 70.4% of special Mahidol Day.

Conclusion: Successful repair grafts of tympanic perforations occurred in 61.1-86.2% and was dependent on the clinical course of disease, experience of the surgeon, supervision and technical variables.