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Ouch My Ear is Killing Me!

Ouch My Ear is Killing Me!

If you’re suffering from an earache you’re not alone. Earaches are a very common cause of doctor visits. In general, earaches are caused by infections in one of the main parts of the ear. There’s the outer ear or pinna, which can be readily seen by anyone. Next is the ear canal that leads from the outside to the eardrum. Behind the eardrum is what’s called the middle ear. Deeper inside is the inner ear.

Infection of the outer ear or pinna can be caused by trauma, an underlying skin condition such as psoriasis or eczema, an insect bite, etc. Your outer ear would be mildly swollen, red and painful. An over the counter antibiotic ointment might suffice to treat it. Anything more than mild swelling may require a prescription for an antibiotic taken by mouth. An outer ear infection is uncommon but can be serious if not treated correctly.

Infection of the ear canal is what’s commonly called a swimmer’s ear. These are more frequent during the summer when folks are swimming but can also occur from water in the shower or Q-Tip use. With a swimmer’s ear there is usually pain when the ear is touched or moved. There may also be a hearing loss present.

Swimmer’s ear may resolve on its own with no treatment, but resolves more quickly with antibiotic drops. Over the counter drops are available to treat this but will work poorly if the ear canal is full of wax or debris. Swimmer’s ear can be due to bacteria or a fungus and may require a physician to suction debris or wax from the ear for the drops to be most effective. Cleaning the ear canal is not something to try you and will likely make things worse if tried. Some of the time a wick must be placed into the ear canal to draw the antibiotic drops down the canal if it’s swollen shut. An ear wick is a small piece of cotton or other absorbent material that’s saturated with the medication so it can reach the infected area.

It’s very important to keep the infected ear dry until the infection is resolved. A cotton ball in the ear canal during a shower will keep most water from entering the ear canal and is soft so doesn’t abrade the skin of the ear canal as an ear plug might.

Middle ear infections are what most of us think of as childhood ear infections. They occur most often in conjunction with a cold and are very common in children. They may be viral or bacterial. Moving the outer ear probably doesn’t increase the pain, as the skin is not involved. There is usually a temporary hearing loss associated with this type of infection. A simple way to tell if the hearing is reduced would be to go from side to side while on the phone to see if the painful ear hears worse than the normal one.

Antibiotics are frequently prescribed for middle ear infections, although many are viral and resolve without the help of antibiotics.

Inner ear infections are very uncommon and rarely cause pain. They may cause vertigo (spinning dizziness) or a sudden hearing loss and should be treated by a physician promptly.

An earache may be due to what is called referred pain from another part of the body. Some of the more common examples would be an infected tooth, a jaw joint problem called TMJ, a throat infection, a swollen neck lymph node or less commonly, a tumor in the mouth or throat.


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Multi-Specialty Private Practice with six locations in Fairfield County, CT