An abnormal, non-cancerous growth of skin cells in the middle ear, often causing hearing loss and potentially serious complications if untreated.
From Greek 'chole' (bile) + 'steat-' (fat) + '-oma' (tumor), originally misnamed because doctors thought it contained bile; actually a skin growth in the ear.
Cholesteatoma has a misleading name—it's not related to bile or cholesterol at all! It was called that because of a historical misunderstanding, but it's actually skin cells invading the ear.
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