Anatomy of an Ear Infection

Medically Reviewed by Melinda Ratini, MS, DO on January 11, 2022

It’s not your imagination. Kids can get a lot of ear infections. In fact, 5 out of 6 children will have at least one by their third birthday. Why? Their immune systems are immature, and their little ears don’t drain as well as adults’ ears do.

It’s an infection in the outer ear that usually happens when the ear stays wet long enough to breed germs. But even if your kid hasn’t been swimming, a scratch from something like a cotton swab (or who knows what they stick in there?) can cause trouble. Watch out if your child’s ear gets itchy or hurts when you touch it. The answer is usually medicated drops and keeping ears dry.

The only way to know for sure if your child has one is for a doctor to look inside her ear with a tool called an otoscope, a tiny flashlight with a magnifying lens. A healthy eardrum (shown here) looks sort of clear and pinkish-gray. An infected one looks red and swollen.

The Eustachian tube is a canal that connects your middle ear to your throat. It keeps fluid and air pressure from building up inside your ear. Colds, the flu, and allergies can irritate it and make it swell up.

If the Eustachian tube gets blocked, fluid builds up inside your child’s middle ear. This makes the perfect breeding ground for bacteria that cause infections. Your doctor may look inside your child’s ear with an otoscope, which can blow a puff of air to make his eardrum vibrate. If it doesn’t move as much as it should, chances are there’s fluid inside.

If too much fluid or pressure builds up inside the middle ear, the eardrum can actually burst (shown here). If that happens, you may see yellow, brown, or white fluid draining from your child’s ear. It sounds scary, but the eardrum usually heals itself in a couple of weeks. Hearing usually returns to normal once the eardrum heals –unless the eardrum has been damaged.

The main warning sign is sharp pain. Your child may be more uncomfortable lying down, so he might have a hard time sleeping. Other problems to look for:

• Trouble hearing
• Fever
• Fluid oozing from ears
• Dizziness
• Stuffy nose

These infections can be sneaky with babies or children who are too young to tell you what hurts. A lot of times they’ll start tugging or pulling on an ear. Little kids can also just get cranky, have trouble sleeping, or not eat well. Babies may push their bottles away because pressure in their ears makes it hurt to swallow.

While the immune system fights the ear infection, you can ease any pain your child feels. A warm washcloth on the outside of the ear can be soothing. Depending on the cause of the earache, your doctor may recommend eardrops. Non-prescription painkillers and fever-reducers, such as acetaminophen and ibuprofen, are also an option. Do not give aspirin to children.

Ear infections often go away on their own, so don’t be surprised if your doctor suggests a “wait and see” approach. The more we use antibiotics, the less effective they become. That’s because bacteria learn to fight back against common medicines. Viruses can also cause ear infections, and antibiotics only work on bacteria. Your doctor will know best when to use them.

If your child’s ear infections keep coming back, they can scar his eardrums and lead to hearing loss, speech problems, or even meningitis. If he has lots of them, you might want to have his hearing tested just in case.

For kids who get a lot of ear infections, doctors sometimes put small tubes through the eardrums. They let fluid drain out of the middle ear and stop it from building up again. This can ease the pressure or pain and clear up hearing problems. The tubes usually stay in for 6 to 9 months and fall out on their own.

Sometimes a child’s tonsils get so swollen that they put pressure on the Eustachian tubes that connect her middle ear to her throat — which then causes infections. If that keeps happening, she may need to have her tonsils taken out.

The biggest cause of middle ear infections is the common cold, so avoid cold viruses as much as you can. The best way to stop germs is to make sure your child washes her hands well and often. Also, keep your child away from secondhand smoke, get her a flu shot every year once she turns 6 months old, and breastfeed your baby for at least 6 months to boost her immune system.

Like colds, allergies can also irritate the Eustachian tube and lead to middle ear infections. If you can’t keep your child away from whatever’s bothering him, consider an allergy test to figure out his triggers. Medicine or allergy shots may offer relief and stop the infections, too.

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SOURCES:

Academy of American Family Physicians.

American Academy of Otolaryngology.

American Academy of Pediatrics: “Allergy Tips.”

Chonmaitree, T. Clinical Infectious Diseases, March 15, 2008.

Chavanet, P. Clinical Infectious Diseases, March 15, 2008.

KidsHealth: “Swimmer’s Ear.”

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders: “Ear Infections in Children.”

Merck.

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

Sander, R. American Family Physician, March 1, 2001.

Spiro, D. JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association, Sept. 13, 2006.

CDC.

Mayoclinic.org.

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Otolaryngologists: Ear, Nose, Throat Doctors

Written by Regina Boyle Wheeler

• What Conditions Do Otolaryngologists Treat?
• How Are ENT Doctors Trained?
• How Do I Find an Otolaryngologist?

If you have a health problem with your head or neck, your doctor might recommend that you see an otolaryngologist. That’s someone who treats issues in your ears, nose, or throat as well as related areas in your head and neck. They’re called ENTs for short.

In the 19th century, doctors figured out that the ears, nose, and throat are closely connected by a system of tubes and passages. They made special tools to take a closer look at those areas and came up with ways to treat problems. A new medical specialty was born.

ENTs can do surgery and treat many different medical conditions. You would see one if you have a problem involving:

• An ear condition, such as an infection, hearing loss, or trouble with balance
• Nose and nasal issues like allergies, sinusitis, or growths
• Throat problems like tonsillitis, difficulty swallowing, and voice issues
• Sleep trouble like snoring or obstructive sleep apnea, in which your airway is narrow or blocked and it interrupts your breathing while you sleep
• Infections or tumors (cancerous or not) of your head or neck

Some areas of your head are treated by other kinds of doctors. For example, neurologists deal with problems with your brain or nervous system, and ophthalmologists care for your eyes and vision.

Otolaryngologists go to 4 years of medical school. They then have at least 5 years of special training. Finally, they need to pass an exam to be certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology.

Some also get 1 or 2 years of training in a subspecialty:

• Allergy: These doctors treat environmental allergies (like pollen or pet dander) with medicine or a series of shots called immunology. They also can help you find out if you have a food allergy.
• Facial and reconstructive surgery: These doctors do cosmetic surgery like face lifts and nose jobs. They also help people whose looks have been changed by an accident or who were born with issues that need to be fixed.
• Head and neck: If you have a tumor in your nose, sinuses, mouth, throat, voice box, or upper esophagus, this kind of specialist can help you.
• Laryngology: These doctors treat diseases and injuries that affect your voice box (larynx) and vocal cords. They also can help diagnose and treat swallowing problems.
• Otology and neurotology: If you have any kind of issue with your ears, these specialists can help. They treat conditions like infections, hearing loss, dizziness, and ringing or buzzing in your ears (tinnitus).
• Pediatric ENT: Your child might not be able to tell their doctor what’s bothering them. Pediatric ENTs are specially trained to treat youngsters, and they have tools and exam rooms designed to put kids at ease.

Common problems include ear infections, tonsillitis, asthma, and allergies. Pediatric ENTs also care for children with birth defects of the head and neck. They also can help figure out if your child has a speech or language problem.

• Rhinology: These doctors focus on your nose and sinuses. They treat sinusitis, nose bleeds, loss of smell, stuffy nose, and unusual growths.
• Sleep medicine: Some ENTs specialize in sleep problems that involve your breathing, for instance snoring or sleep apnea. Your doctor may order a sleep study to see if you have trouble breathing at times during the night.

Ask your primary care doctor or go to the American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery website to find one in your area. Look for one that specializes in your specific problem.

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Pain in the ear – an extremely unpleasant symptom. It can be a dull pain in the ear, throbbing, or, conversely, acute and sudden.

Why does my ear hurt?

Possible causes of ear pain

Ear pain is most commonly associated with inflammation of either the outer ear (pinna and auditory canal up to the eardrum) or the middle ear (tympanic cavity just behind the eardrum). In this case, they speak, respectively, of external or otitis media . If the auricle hurts, then most likely the cause of this is a bacterial or fungal infection that has entered the wound or the mouth of the sebaceous gland. Sometimes both the ear and the throat hurt at the same time. And this is not surprising: the ear is connected to the nasopharynx, and through the auditory tube, the infection can get from the nasopharynx to the middle ear, and then the inflammation that causes pain develops simultaneously in the throat and ear.

However, often the ear hurts for other reasons. In children, ear pain is sometimes associated with foreign objects entering the auditory canal . If this happens, you should not try to remove the object that has fallen into the ear on your own – you can damage the eardrum or injure the ear.

The thick earwax plug can also cause discomfort and pain.

Another possible cause of acute pain is tympanic membrane rupture .

There are quite common cases when pain felt in the ear indicates a disease of other organs. Doctors call such pain radiating, and people say that the pain “gives to the ear.”

Similar pains can occur with sinusitis (inflammation of the sinuses), arthritis of the jaw joint, inflammation of the trigeminal nerve.

With caries of the extreme teeth in the advanced stage, when the nerve or tissues adjacent to the tooth are inflamed, the pain often radiates to the ear, temple and neck. You can recognize the “dental origin” of pain by the fact that it intensifies when you press on the aching tooth, as well as when you take cold or hot food.

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Ear hurts: what to do?

Ear hurts

With ear pain, the main thing is not to self-medicate. Trying to determine the cause of ear pain on your own, it is easy to make a mistake. It is not always clear even where the source of pain is located – in the auditory canal or the tympanic chamber. Therefore, it is dangerous to start treatment without consulting a doctor – you can treat something else, but a disease left to itself, in the meantime, can take a more severe form.

If the pain in the ear has not gone away within two days, or if it bothers you especially, you should contact an ENT. Experienced ENT doctors of the “Family Doctor” will help determine the cause of the pain and prescribe an effective course of treatment for both an adult and a child.

Do not self-medicate. Contact our specialists who will correctly diagnose and prescribe treatment.

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What to do when your ear hurts – an article on the site Aptechestvo, Nizhny Novgorod

Ear pain in adults or ear pain in a child is simply exhausting. Usually it is accompanied by discomfort, fatigue, sleep disturbance, loud crying. Practice shows that people with ear pain make many mistakes that lead to complications. What to do when your ear hurts? First of all, you need to consult a doctor who will diagnose ear pain and prescribe the appropriate course of treatment.

When an adult’s ear hurts or a child’s ear hurts, discomfort can occur in different departments. We will analyze them in accordance with the generally accepted classification.

Pain in the outer ear

This part of the auditory organ is considered the most unprotected for infections. Why does my ear hurt? Very often, pain occurs due to inflammatory processes caused by bacteria. Another reason is improper cleaning, physical damage, foreign bodies. All this leads to the appearance of boils and even eczema. In such cases, doctors put otitis externa.

Pain in the middle ear

Ear pain can also appear in the middle ear. The department is closely connected with the outer ear and nasopharynx. Therefore, it is also characterized by the appearance of infections. Pathologies in the middle ear are accompanied by shooting pain, pulsation, hearing loss, distortion of the perception of one’s own voice.

Main pathologies:

• inflammatory processes;

• tumors in the tympanic cavity;

• trauma and breach of integrity;

• problems in the auditory tube.

In some cases, severe ear pain may appear after going to the pool. Pain extends both to the outer ear, where the infection could have entered, and to the middle ear, where pain is caused by the strong pressure of water when diving to depth.

Pathologies of the inner ear

The defeat of the inner ear in most cases is not accompanied by pain. Therefore, here, it is best to talk about pathologies. The main symptoms: impaired coordination, periodic nausea, extraneous sounds, headaches, dizziness and rapid hearing loss. The list of the main diseases that are the result of damage to the inner ear:

• labyrinthitis;

• hearing loss;

• Meniere’s disease;

• otosclerosis.

In addition, in some cases, acute ear pain may be due to complications in other organs. For example, dental problems, trigeminal neuralgia, or swelling of the larynx.

Ear hurts, how to treat?

Sometimes, if a child’s ear hurts, the parents don’t know what to do. If acute ear pain is not possible to see a doctor, you should use painkillers. For example, take a tablet of Solpadein, Tempalgin or Pentalgin. In some cases, it is allowed to use vasoconstrictor ear drops. In addition, a solution of ammonia with camphor will help.