ICD-10-CM › S00-T88 › T15-T19 › T codes › T16

T16

Foreign body in ear

Not billableICD-10-CM diagnosis code.

This code exists but cannot be submitted on its own. It groups the more specific codes beneath it.

A category header for its whole life, FY2016 onwards. It has never been valid for submission on its own.

Submit one of these 3 more specific codes instead:

  • T16.1 Foreign body in right ear (also a header)
  • T16.2 Foreign body in left ear (also a header)
  • T16.9 Foreign body in ear, unspecified ear (also a header)

This code requires a seventh character. See the rule below.

What has happened to this code

Every change the publisher made, from 2012 to now. Entries marked draft are from the pre-implementation releases: ICD-10 took effect on 1 October 2015, so nothing before FY2016 was ever valid on a claim.

  1. FY2012 Added to the draft code set draft Foreign body in ear

Official coding rules

Published by CDC for FY2027. A rule attached to a category binds every code beneath it, so the rules inherited from this code's ancestors are shown with the code they come from.

This code

Seventh character required

  • The appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category T16

Includes

  • foreign body in auditory canal

Inherited from the T15-T19 section Effects of foreign body entering through natural orifice (T15-T19)

Excludes2 - not included here

  • foreign body accidentally left in operation wound (T81.5-)
  • foreign body in penetrating wound - See open wound by body region
  • residual foreign body in soft tissue (M79.5)
  • splinter, without open wound - See superficial injury by body region

Use additional code

  • code, if known, for foreign body entering into or through a natural orifice (W44.-)

How CDC's index refers to this code

Wording from the official alphabetic index. Much of it appears nowhere in the code description, which is why a search for the everyday phrase so often finds nothing.