Even if no therapy is given, your eardrum should recover in a few weeks. After eardrum surgery, you should be able to leave the hospital within one to two days. Full recuperation, particularly after therapy or surgical operations, usually takes eight weeks. At that time, you should be able to resume most activities without risk of further injury. However, because of possible complications, such as infection, additional surgery may be needed to restore full hearing ability. During recovery, it's important not to push yourself too hard. Hearing improvement often occurs very quickly after surgery; but readdressing your environment can be difficult until your ears are fully healed. Also, try not to expose your ears to loud noises for several months after surgery. This will help prevent any future damage to your ear drums. If you have had eardrum surgery, do not touch or pull on your ears, especially during the first six months following surgery. Doing so could lead to bleeding inside your ear drum, which would need to be re-surged. Also, avoid shaking hands with open palms, as this could cause your surgeon to remove more of your ear drum than necessary. Eardrum surgery is generally safe and effective. But like anything else involving your body, there is a chance of complication including pain, swelling, loss of hearing, and infection.