Care of the discharging ears

   1. Avoid moisture in ear :  Plug ear with Vaseline smeared cotton plug during shampoo, head wash, shower or bathing. Remove these after drying hair with towel.
   2. Avoid oil in ear :  It causes fungal infection by preventing evaporation of moisture.
   3. Avoid colored ear drops : It makes subsequent examination and evaluation difficult.
   4. Avoid Scratching ears with ear buds, hair –pin, finger nail, crochet, knitting needle, pencil, pin, toothpick, match stick etc.
   5. Avoid feeding the baby or young child in lying down position. Prop him up. The feeds may enter the ear via Eustachian tube (ventilation tube of the ear). Thus bottle feeding should also be avoided in children having discharging ears.
   6. If you catch a cold, take prompt treatment. Do not blow the nose during a cold – nasal discharge must not be forced up to the ear Avoid contact with people having cold.
   7. Avoid swimming – do not bathe in a river, lake, sea or swimming pool.
   8. Avoid air travel during episode of cold.

Care of discharging ears

The care of a discharging ear is extremely important. Few principles are

1. Dry Mopping: Let the discharge come out of ear. for that the inside of pinna should be kept dry by mopping up with a dry cotton without using a stick or earbud. just mop with cotton and throw the cotton.
2. Prevent water from entering into ear especially while taking bath. for that use good quality silicone ear plugs or use a cotton ball smeared with vaseline or some medicated ointment like neosporin and then after bath, through the cotton immediately.
3. Never ever indulge in using earbud or matchstick to clean the ear.
4. Put some antibiotic steroids ear drops by keeping the discharging ear up for 10 minutes. Do not use cotton plug to stop drop coming out. These cotton balls may itself contain infection or leave some cotton fibers to cause infections. Do not worry if drop comes out of ear after 10 minutes.
5. If your ear is not responding, then a culture may be required especially for a fresh infection. do not resort to self medications.
6. Most of the ear problems are initially due to associated nasal problems so this is important to take care of nasal problems also otherwise ear will keep discharging.
7. Since Ear is made up of bony septa like a honeycomb, so an ear discharge may take 4-6 weeks to get dry. It's more fruitful to wait then to operate a wet ear. So be patient with the doctor. Few ears do not respond even to this, then they require to be operated in wet state only.

Please leave your query in the comment column or any other suggestion you would like to give.

Regards,

Dr. Ajay Jain