Incus

Looks like

A tiny anvil-shaped bone between the malleus and stapes in the middle ear.

What it does

Relays vibration across the middle ear.

Keeping it well

Its thin tip is the most easily eroded by chronic infection, causing conductive hearing loss that surgery can repair.

Related conditions

• Acromegaly
• Cholesteatoma
• Ear infections (otitis media & externa)
• Earwax blockage
• Fractures
• Fragility fracture
• Frailty & falls in older age
• Hyperparathyroidism
• Osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease)
• Osteomalacia & rickets
• Osteomyelitis (bone infection)
• Osteoporosis
• Otosclerosis
• Paget's disease of bone
• Sarcoma
• Vitamin B1, C and other deficiencies
• Vitamin D deficiency