We appreciate the opportunity to respond to this letter. In fact, this is Dr Lou's 22nd ''letter to the editor'' in tympanic membrane (TM) repair, mainly referring to his own studies.Dr Lou claimed that failure of TM healing is due to lack of epithelial migration, not absence of the fibrous layer, and that biological scaffold is not required. We do not agree. TM wound healing is complex. Chronicity may arise from reepithelialization of perforation margin, 1 lack of structural support in guiding tissue as TM is suspended in midair, and lack of growth factors. 2 As the fibrous layer is the last to migrate across a perforation, it occasionally fails to migrate, leaving a dimeric structure. While the perforation looks healed, this atypical neomembrane is associated with suboptimal hearing, retraction pockets, atelectatic TM, and, ultimately, cholesteatoma. 3 To enhance TM healing, both scaffolds and growth factors are commonly used with different underlying mechanisms. Scaffolds provide structural support to guide regenerating tissue and act as a carrier to retain growth factors, while growth factors induce cellular proliferation and migration. 2,3 For traumatic perforations, various studies have reported favorable results with the single use of scaffolds or growth factors. These scaffolds include silk, collagen, calcium alginate, and chitosan, while growth factors include basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and epidermal growth factor. 2 Growth factors are typically applied as ear drops. Scaffolds vary in their attributes, and selecting a suitable scaffold is critical. 3 Currently, Gelfoam is the most commonly used carrier, despite possible adverse effects such as fibrosis. 3,4 Moreover, Gelfoam loses its scaffold function in early stages, 3 and this may be the main reason for suboptimal outcomes in many studies. 5 In our study, we have shown that treatment with an acellular collagen scaffold (ACS) as a carrier for bFGF results in the successful TM repair of traumatic perforations. Most important, using various modalities (otoscopy, optical coherence tomography, histology, transmission electron microscopy), we were able to show that combination of ACS as scaffold and bFGF as growth factors resulted in the formation of trilaminar TM with uniform thickness, densely packed with collagen fibers. Not only does this improve TM closure rates, but this better reconstructed TM also shows improved hearing outcomes, further supporting the role of a bioscaffold in combination with growth factors.