SURGICAL PHOTOGRAPH OF LEFT MIDDLE EAR EXPLORATION (Surgeon's view)
The posterior canal skin and tympanic membrane (tympanomeatal flap) have been reflected anteriorly, to expose the middle ear structures. The scutum has been curetted to allow the visualization of the footplate of the stapes and the horizontal facial nerve inside the fallopian canal. The chorda tympani nerve courses anteriorly, lateral to the long arm of the incus, but medial to the manubrium of the malleus. The lenticular process of the incus articulates with the capitulum of the stapes. The promontory is the bulge in the medial wall of the middle ear, inferior to the stapes.