Ear
My ear has been discharging for months
Ear discharge (chronic ear infection) treatment in KPHB, Hyderabad
A discharging ear can nearly always be made dry and safe. The examination tells us how.
Does this sound like you?
- Discharge from the ear every time water gets in, or with every cold
- Hearing that has dulled on that side
- A smell from the ear
- Years of drops that settle it for a while
- Occasional pain or a feeling of fullness
Ear discharge treatment at Sinocare ENT Hospital, KPHB Colony, Kukatpally, starts with the ear cleaned and examined under the microscope. Some ears keep discharging, on and off, for months or years. Such an ear has usually stopped being an infection problem and become a structure problem. There is a hole in the eardrum, and infection passes through it whenever water or a cold reaches it. Drops settle each episode; they do not close the hole. The good news is that a discharging ear can nearly always be made dry and safe. Hearing often improves with it.
What it looks like inside
What it usually is
Most often it is a hole in the eardrum (a perforation), left behind by an old infection or an injury. The hole lets water and germs into the middle ear, which responds with discharge. Hearing dulls because the drum no longer vibrates as a whole.
Less often, and more important to find, is cholesteatoma. This is skin that has grown into the middle ear and the bone behind it, where it does not belong. It causes a discharge that keeps coming and often smells foul. It slowly eats away bone, and it does not stop on its own. The two conditions are told apart by examination under magnification, and where needed by a CT scan.
What happens at the first visit
The ear is cleaned and examined under a microscope or an ear camera (endoscope). That way the whole eardrum and the edges of any hole can be seen. A hearing test is done at the hospital in KPHB. It shows how much of the loss is from the drum, and how much, if any, is from the nerve. Where the examination raises the possibility of cholesteatoma, a CT of the bone behind the ear is arranged before anything else is decided.
What helps, and what is tried first
- Keeping the ear dry. A cotton ball with a smear of petroleum jelly when bathing, no swimming, no water in the ear. This alone stops many ears discharging.
- Antibiotic drops for the active episode, after the ear has been cleaned so they can reach the middle ear.
- Ear cleaning at the hospital (aural toilet): gentle cleaning of the ear canal, sometimes repeated over a few weeks.
- Treating the nose, where a blocked nose or allergy is keeping the middle ear unhealthy.
A dry hole in an ear that hears reasonably well and never gives trouble does not have to be operated on. That is a real option and it is offered when it applies.
When to come in sooner
- Discharge with a foul smell that does not clear on drops
- Dizziness, or a sudden drop in hearing
- Pain behind the ear, or swelling behind the ear
- Any weakness of the face on that side
- Severe headache with an ear infection
These are the signs that infection may be spreading beyond the ear, and they are seen the same day.
If an operation is ever needed
A hole that has stayed open for more than three months will not close on its own. Repairing it (tympanoplasty) uses a small graft of your own tissue. It is usually done through the ear canal with no visible cut, as a one day procedure at Sinocare ENT Hospital. Sometimes cholesteatoma has spread into the bone behind the ear. Then an operation on that bone (mastoidectomy) clears it under a microscope. It is a longer operation with a night’s stay. Both are done by Dr. Santosh. He trained in ear surgery at a government ENT hospital that does nothing else. The pages below explain each one, including what is watched for and how.
Questions patients ask
Will drops fix the hole?
No. Drops treat the infection that passes through the hole. Closing the hole is a small operation.
Will my hearing come back?
If the loss is from the hole, closing it usually recovers most of it. The small bones behind the drum may have been worn away. Then the hearing gain is smaller, and the hearing test beforehand tells you which case you are in.
Is cholesteatoma cancer?
No. It is skin in the wrong place. It is taken seriously because it eats away bone, not because it spreads through the body.
Can I leave it?
A dry, stable hole in an ear that hears well can be watched. An ear that keeps discharging should not be left, and nor should any ear with cholesteatoma. The operation it will need only gets bigger with time.
Is this a “hole in the ear drum”?
Usually, yes: a hole that infection passes through whenever water or a cold reaches it. Drops settle each episode. Closing the hole is a small operation, tympanoplasty.