Historically, trephination was used to potentially relieve intracranial pressures or build-up of pus, with records dating back to pre-historic times.

There is a slight distinction between M2c and M3a in that M3a removes the eardrum before pre auricular pit and cavity closure and blocks the tympanic opening of the Eustachian tube.

[14] Greek physician Galen (AD 129-217) was the first to write in his treatise Hygiene (Italian: De Sanitate Tuenda, English: On the Preservation of Health) about ear discharge being a natural secretion form the brain, and the importance of permitting drainage of such fluid.

[17]Additionally, there is controversy whether French physician Ambroise Paré was the first to describe a surgical procedure draining an infected ear of Francis II of France in 1560.

The mastoidectomy was revitalized in 1873 following the publication, Ueber die künstliche Eröffnung des Warzenfortsatzes (English: “On the artificial opening of the mastoid process”), written by Hermann Schwartze and his assistant Adolf Eysell.