American Medical Association Family Medical Guide - American Medical Association [722]
Symptoms and Diagnosis
The symptoms of an earwax blockage include a feeling that the ear is plugged, partial hearing loss, ringing in the ear, and sometimes earache. If you have symptoms of earwax blockage, do not try to remove the wax with a stick or swab—you could easily pack earwax against the eardrum and damage it.
See your doctor to rule out a more serious problem. He or she will examine your ears with a lighted viewing instrument called an otoscope.
Treatment
If you have an earwax blockage, the doctor may flush the ear with warm water and soften the wax with eardrops before removing it. If the wax is difficult to remove, he or she may dislodge it with a probe or electric suction device. If an earwax blockage recurs, the doctor may recommend an over-the-counter liquid or prescribe eardrops to loosen and remove the earwax.
Removing earwax
To remove earwax, a doctor injects warm water into the ear. The water flows through the ear canal, bounces off the eardrum, and flows back along the bottom of the canal, helping to clear out the wax.
Infections of the Outer Ear Canal
Infections of the outer ear canal may be either local (such as a boil or abscess) or general (affecting the whole lining of the ear canal). General infections of the ear canal can result from persistent, excessive moisture in the canal, such as from swimming regularly or bathing.
Symptoms
The symptoms of an infection of the ear canal include pain when you touch the ear but not when you move your head. In some cases, yellowish green pus seeps from the ear and blocks the ear canal, which can result in temporary hearing loss.
Diagnosis and Treatment
If you have symptoms of an infection of the outer ear canal, keep your ear dry and do not try to wash it or clean it. Also, do not scratch or touch it. Place a clean cotton pad or heating pad over the ear and take an over-the-counter pain reliever. See your doctor.
To diagnose an infection of the outer ear canal, your doctor will examine your ear with a lighted viewing instrument called an otoscope. He or she may clean the ear with a suction device or a cotton-tipped probe, which usually relieves the irritation and pain. Because these infections are usually caused by bacteria, the doctor may prescribe eardrops that contain antibiotics (to clear up the infection) and corticosteroids (to reduce inflammation). If the canal is very swollen and narrow, he or she may insert a medicine-soaked wick to make sure the medicine reaches the ear canal.
Because you must keep the infected ear dry during treatment, the doctor will ask you not to swim and will recommend wearing a shower cap or using cotton covered with petroleum jelly as an earplug in the tub or shower.
If the infection does not clear up within a week, you may need to have the ear cleaned again. The doctor may then take a sample of pus to identify the bacterium that is causing the infection or to rule out a bacterial infection. He or she may also prescribe different eardrops or an oral antibiotic.
If the infection is caused by a fungus or if you develop an allergy to the medication, the infection may recur and require treatment for several weeks. In this case, your doctor may prescribe a corticosteroid cream, antifungal eardrops, or antibiotic eardrops. If the infection is caused by chronic itching or scaling, the doctor may prescribe corticosteroid eardrops and recommend precautions to take when you bathe or swim.
Tumors of the Outer Ear
Tumors of the outer ear may be either benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous). On the visible portion of the ear, a noncancerous tumor may develop as a painless lump. In the ear canal, the tumor may be a hard growth of bony tissue called an osteoma.
Cancerous tumors on the visible part of the ear can resemble wartlike growths, benign tumors, or ulcers or sores that don’t heal. Cancerous tumors of the outer ear are almost always skin cancers.
Symptoms
The symptoms of an