An abscess near the ear. Ear boil, diffuse otitis externa

According to many people, a common pimple in the ear does not pose any danger to hearing, much less to life. At the same time, you need to understand that a formed abscess of the outer ear without treatment against a background of weakened immunity can even lead to death.

This happens rarely, for this several factors must coincide, but at the beginning of the disease no one knows how it will progress, so it is advisable to know what an abscess of the outer ear is, what types there are, and what to do with it.

External ear abscess

An abscess of the outer ear itself is a necrotic lesion of the ear canal or auricle. An advanced disease involves not only soft tissues, but also penetrating the cranial nerves and meninges.

In most cases, serious progression of the disease occurs in people with immunodeficiency or diabetes.

But in a person with simply a severely weakened immune system, an abscess of the outer ear without treatment can lead to serious consequences.

The reasons for the appearance of an abscess can be either the ingress of bacteria from the outside or due to the penetration of pus during the disease.

A banal scratch of the external auditory canal with a match or a fingernail is fraught with serious inflammation, and this also applies to excessive hygiene. The disease affects people of any age, develops differently and has several types and varieties.

In general, ear abscess refers to external otitis, but inflammation is different. diffuse otitis may occur due to an untreated abscess.

Simple limited - this is the same abscess formed by a carbuncle or inflamed atheroma.

An abscess may appear in the ear canal, on the lobe, or behind the ear. This gives rise to varieties of the disease that have pronounced differences.

Varieties

Limited external otitis, even with mild symptoms, requires observation and subsequent treatment. A blockage of the sebaceous gland, left unattended and turning into suppuration, can lead to the appearance of an abscess.

Regarding localization, three types of abscesses are most often distinguished:

• Behind the ear
• On the earlobe
• Subperiosteal.

The last type of abscess is especially dangerous; it is a subperiosteal abscess, which can cause the inflammatory process to penetrate to its maximum depth. Abscesses behind the ear are the most common occurrence - atheromas that arise in this area often become inflamed.

Atheromas of the earlobe also tend to fester, but more often inflammation occurs due to. These can be scratches from nails or earrings, and abscesses on the lobe often occur after ear piercing.

Photos of types of ear abscess in humans

Symptoms

One of the main symptoms of the disease is moderate to severe ear pain. With limited external otitis, the pain is focused at the site of inflammation of the hair follicle.

A diffuse necrotic process can cause severe pain throughout the ear. In some cases, a diffuse form of otitis externa may occur due to an untreated boil in the ear canal.

Along with pain, frequent accompaniments of an abscess are:

1. Increased body temperature.
2. The presence of redness and narrowing of the ear canal.
3. Obvious swelling or appearance of an abscess.

Young children are not able to tell about hearing loss or congestion, they may develop a fever, discharge from the ear, as well as other visual manifestations.

Parents should pay attention to the child's restlessness, crying, or a ban on touching the sore ear. Abscesses on the lobe and behind the ear are clearly visible; parents should not wait for them to enlarge - they must immediately consult a doctor for timely treatment.

Treatment

Treatment of an abscess is quite diverse - it is impossible to get by with just one type. Drug and physiotherapeutic treatment is usually carried out, and surgical intervention is also often required.

In addition, there are various folk methods, but you should not rely on them entirely, although, on the recommendation of a doctor, they can be used in combination with traditional treatment.

Medication

For an abscess, antibiotics or antiviral drugs are prescribed in most cases. Since the disease is most often caused by bacteria, antibiotics in the form of ointments, drops, tablets and injections are almost always present.

Even when treating an abscess caused by fungi, antibacterial therapy is necessary due to the high probability of infection.

It is also necessary to use antiseptic solutions to treat the outer ear during daily hygiene. In some cases, the treatment process is carried out twice or more per day, but after overcoming the disease, it is necessary to switch to cleaning the external auditory canal no more than once a week.

ethnoscience

Since most often the disease is bacterial in nature, doctors do not recommend home compresses. For treatment, you can use rubs, drops, turundas and lotions of the following:

• Juice of roasted garlic or onion
• Alcohol tinctures of propolis or celandine
• Aloe and Kalanchoe juice (medicinal species of these plants)
• Infusions and decoctions of medicinal herbs (chamomile, calendula, etc.).

It will also be useful to use various fortifying and anti-inflammatory decoctions instead of drinking. You should not give in to the desire to squeeze out the abscess yourself - this can be even more dangerous than simply leaving it without treatment.

Any folk methods must be combined with traditional medicine.

Physiotherapy and alternative methods

The most common procedure for ear abscesses is actinotherapy. This procedure can be conditionally called “light” treatment due to the use of lamps with infrared and ultraviolet light.

At the final stages of treatment, UHF and paraffin therapy are used, and in the case of other inflammatory processes in the ear, iontophoresis with medicinal substances can be used.

Physiotherapy cannot replace medications in full - treatment procedures must necessarily be combined with medications.

It is necessary to take measures to restore immunity - this is one of the alternative methods of treating any chronic diseases of the ears and nasopharynx.

Surgical intervention

Often the presence of an abscess requires surgery. In the initial stage of the disease, a global operation is not required - a simple excision of the abscess is required to remove the contents.

Not everyone is prescribed an abscess incision - it depends on its size, the patient’s immunity, his age and general condition.

In some cases, doctors try to stop the inflammatory process without surgery. This is mainly practiced at the very beginning of the disease and when the patient is in good health with the obligatory use of antibiotics.

Attention is also drawn to the size of the abscess and if it increases, surgical opening is inevitable.

How to properly treat an ear abscess, watch our video:

Prevention

As with many other ear diseases, abscesses can be prevented.

1. The most important things in this process are strengthening the immune system, proper hygiene, and preventing hypothermia and overheating.
2. To strengthen the immune system, it is necessary to use various hardening systems, vitamin and mineral therapy, diet, as well as regular exposure to the open air.
3. It is especially worth highlighting air baths, especially for children. Constantly wearing a hat, even in warm weather, cannot help protect against ear diseases. It is necessary to promptly remove your hat at high temperatures outside, and also put it on during windy and cold weather.
4. It is also especially worth highlighting proper ear care and hygiene in general. Excessive cleansing efforts can injure the skin of the ear canal and provoke infection. Ears should be cleaned carefully and no more than once a week.
5. It is necessary to pay attention to the hygiene of hands and nails - do not reach into the ear with dirty fingers. Especially if the nails are quite long or sharp.
6. The same applies to the use of objects unsuitable for hygiene - hairpins and matches should not be used to clean the ears or overcome itching.

Prevention plays an important role in preventing the disease, but when it occurs, one cannot rely on chance; treatment must be started.

The disease comes in different types, some of which can cause serious damage to health, so you should not neglect both prevention and timely treatment.

A boil in the ear is perhaps one of the most unpleasant pathologies of the ENT organs. Exacerbation of the disease occurs regardless of the gender and age of the patient, accompanied by painful sensations. If a boil occurs in a child, emergency measures should be taken, since children suffer the disease extremely hard. More details about how to treat a boil in the ear will be discussed in this article.

Furuncle in the ear - how to treat

The main factor that provokes the appearance of a boil in the ear is pathogenic microorganisms that penetrate human tissue. They are capable of developing in all parts of the human body or even in the environment. But for such microorganisms to penetrate the skin, optimal conditions are needed.

Some conditions conducive to infection by pathogenic microorganisms:

• mechanical damage(small scratches or cracks in the skin open the door to various bacteria into the patient’s body);
• weak immune system often causes the appearance of pustules on the body;
• failure to comply with personal hygiene rules. For example, when cleaning the ears with third-party objects that are unsuitable for this procedure. Insufficient hygiene can also provoke the development of an inflammatory process;
• severe hypothermia. In this case, the immune system decreases, which causes the proliferation of pathogenic microorganisms;
• accompanying illnesses, such as autoimmune diseases, diabetes or disruption of the endocrine system. Hormonal imbalance can also lead to the appearance of boils.

On a note! When water stagnates in the ear, increased humidity occurs. This is an ideal habitat for pathogenic bacteria, so ignoring a swimming cap when visiting the pool can lead to a boil in the ear.

Characteristic symptoms

Painful sensations in the ear are the most common symptom. With mechanical impact on the earlobe, the pain may intensify. It also occurs when chewing food or yawning. Without the use of special instruments or medical practice, pathological changes in the ear canal can be noticed, namely swelling and redness.

Photo - boil in the ear

Often the disease is accompanied by an increase in body temperature, but only slightly. The patient also notices an enlargement of the lymph nodes, which are located near the source of the pathology. Along with the increase, the lymph nodes begin to hurt. When the boil opens, accumulated pus begins to flow out of it. According to statistics, the duration of the disease is no more than 5 days, although there may be exceptions in this regard.

There are other symptoms that appear much less frequently. These include:

• hearing problems or temporary hearing loss;
• insomnia caused by pain (all symptoms of the disease intensify at night);
• poor appetite;
• elevated temperature;
• spread of pain to the eyeballs or even the jaw;
• irritation of the skin inside the ear canal.

Some of these symptoms may appear earlier than the boil itself, so if you have the slightest suspicion of the development of the disease, you should immediately consult a doctor. The sooner treatment begins, the greater the chances of avoiding complications or getting rid of the disease in a short time.

As noted earlier, laboratory or instrumental tests are not necessary to diagnose a boil in the ear. Everything is obvious, but this does not mean that you can engage in superficial self-medication. In this case, you need to visit an otolaryngologist. When performing a visual examination, he will be able to determine the stage of development of the pathology. Once the diagnosis is made, the doctor will prescribe appropriate treatment.

X-rays and ultrasound are used quite rarely, because in most cases the diagnosis can be determined without this. Based on the results of laboratory tests, it is possible to determine the level of leukocytes and its possible increase, but these data do not play a special role in the process of treating boils.

Treatment options

Depending on the severity of the disease, the doctor may prescribe treatment for his patient at home or in a hospital setting. As a rule, pharmaceutical preparations are used for this, but some traditional medicine recipes are also used in the treatment of boils. In special cases, surgical intervention is required. Let's take a closer look at each of the methods.

Pharmacy drugs

At the first signs of a boil, the doctor prescribes special drops to the patient that need to be instilled every day. If they do not help and the abscess is not going to break through, then topical antibacterial drugs are used, which lubricate the surface of the boil. In rare cases, when the disease is accompanied by severe pain, the doctor may prescribe painkillers or antibacterial drugs to relieve symptoms.

After the boil breaks out, pus will begin to appear in the patient’s ear canal, so you need to wash the affected area with an antiseptic solution, and treat the abscess itself with wound-healing ointments. This will help avoid serious complications.

Surgery

If drug treatment for boils is ineffective, and the patient’s condition worsens, the doctor may decide to perform surgery. During the procedure, the doctor opens the boil, and then cleans the affected area and treats it with an antiseptic.

Surgery is extremely rarely resorted to, because if the boil is treated in a timely manner with medications and all doctor’s recommendations are followed, no serious consequences arise.

ethnoscience

Traditional medicine is often used as a complement to traditional methods. Below are the most effective of them.

Table. Treatment of a boil in the ear with folk remedies.

On a note! Many people decide to remove the boil that has formed in the ear on their own. This is a common mistake that can lead to the spread of suppuration to adjacent tissues or relapse of the disease. Avoid such dissections to prevent serious complications.

What complications can there be?

If a single boil appears in the ear, then, as a rule, it is unable to greatly affect the state of health or cause serious complications. But sometimes patients may become inflamed salivary glands if they self-medicate. For example, squeezing out pus on your own or piercing a boil with a needle can lead to unpleasant consequences. With such actions, the neighboring hair follicles will become inflamed, causing new boils to appear on the patient's body.

In rare cases, with improper treatment of furunculosis of the external auditory canal, the following diseases can develop:

• sepsis(penetration of microorganisms into the blood);
• vein thrombosis(impairs blood circulation in the body);
• lymphadenitis;
• occurrence of intracranial complications;
• mastoiditis, which in the process of development can provoke inflammation of the patient’s inner ear;
• chronic otitis media and so on.

Pathologies are not fatal and do not pose a serious danger to human health, but their appearance is accompanied by severe discomfort and unpleasant sensations.

Prevention measures

Preventing the appearance of boils is much easier than treating it later. This also applies to other diseases. To prevent the reappearance of a boil in the ear, it is necessary to eliminate the causative factors contributing to the development of the pathology, and also follow all the instructions of the attending physician. Maintaining personal hygiene is perhaps the first point in prevention. Regularly clean your ear openings from accumulated dirt, dust and, of course, earwax. For this purpose, you need to use a cotton swab pre-treated with hydrogen peroxide. During the cleaning process, try not to damage the skin, since an infection can enter the body through the resulting scratches or wounds, which will serve as the beginning for the development of an inflammatory process.

When taking a bath or shower, be careful not to get any detergent or even water into your ears. If you are an avid music lover and listen to music through internal headphones, then do not share them with other people. If, even when taking preventive measures, you often experience boils, then you need to undergo a full medical examination to identify hidden pathologies. Often such diseases lead to a decrease in the human immune system, as a result of which the body is not able to resist various infections. As a result, new boils appear on the patient’s body.

Doctors recommend paying attention not only to ear hygiene, but also to the general strengthening of the body. Regular exercise, healthy eating and giving up bad habits have a positive effect on the immune system, as a result of which many diseases can be avoided. You can also strengthen your immune system with vitamin complexes. They are especially relevant in winter, when the body experiences a severe lack of beneficial vitamins and minerals.

Video - How to cure a boil

If you clean your ears incorrectly, you can scratch the skin. If at this time there is a staphylococcus virus in the wound, an inflammatory process will begin, which will cause the formation of a boil. Also, its appearance can be affected by reduced immunity, prolonged use of antibiotics, inflammation after a cold, hypovitaminosis, diseases of the digestive and endocrine systems.

Whatever the cause of the appearance of a boil in the ear, it causes extremely unpleasant and painful sensations, and therefore the question arises: how to cure a boil as quickly as possible?

A furuncle (popularly called a boil) in the outer ear is formed due to purulent inflammation of the hair follicle, sebaceous glands and the connective tissue located around them. Suppuration is caused by pyogenic viruses, in particular Staphylococcus aureus. A boil in the ear leads to swelling of the ear canal and causes compression of the nerve fibers, contributing to the appearance of severe headaches.

It takes about ten days for a boil to form in the external auditory canal. The first two days after infection, an infiltrate develops, an accumulation in one place of cellular elements mixed with blood and lymph, as a result of which the skin turns red, gradually thickens and becomes purple-bluish in color.

Over the next three days, a purulent core forms with a vesicle located at the top. Over the next few days, suppuration and necrosis of the inflamed cells occurs, after which the boil in the ear matures, the vesicle bursts, pus flows out and recovery occurs.

Since a boil can burst in your sleep, you should sleep during inflammation only on the side of the inflamed ear: pus should not penetrate through the ear canal to the eardrum and cause more serious inflammation.

The following symptoms indicate the presence of suppuration in the ear canal:

• The appearance of severe pain in the outer ear, as well as from the inflamed ear;
• Painful sensations appear while chewing or talking;
• Itching, burning and swelling in the ear canal;
• Enlarged parotid lymph nodes;
• Temperature increase.

The presence of a boil in the ear is especially difficult to endure due to the fact that incessantly shooting pains in the ears cause loss of ability to work, especially in people engaged in mental work. Another symptom that accompanies the disease is general weakness and the appearance of irritability.

The peculiarity of a boil is that you cannot remove it yourself by pressing or opening it. This often leads to the infection spreading to neighboring tissues, as a result of which the symptoms of the disease do not go away and health deteriorates: there are a lot of nerve endings in the head leading to the cerebral cortex. Therefore, any complication is fraught with serious consequences and can directly threaten life.

Treatment

If a boil is detected in the external auditory canal, then it is advisable to consult a doctor to receive detailed advice on how to treat it. To remove boils at the initial stage of development, they usually use alcohol or vodka compresses, lubricate the inflammation with iodine or other disinfectants, place tampons in the ear, applying Vishnevsky's pus-drawing ointment or tar ointment to them. Under the influence of such manipulations, a warmed boil in the ear matures and bursts much faster.

In order to speed up the development of an abscess in the external auditory canal, you can use a heating pad: to do this, fill it with hot water, wrap it in a terry towel, lie down with the inflamed ear on it and lie there for about fifteen minutes. This is no longer recommended as it may allow Staphylococcus aureus to pass into the blood and cause infection.

You can treat the ear with warming procedures under the supervision of a doctor: to stimulate the growth of a boil, the doctor may prescribe warming physiotherapy or ultraviolet irradiation. To avoid further spread of infection and relieve pain, the doctor prescribes ear drops with antiseptic and anti-inflammatory effects, and sometimes injects antibiotics into the boil.

Treatment of a complicated case

Despite the fact that usually a boil in the ear disappears on its own, sometimes it grows to a significant size, takes a long time to mature, causing severe pain.

In such cases, the doctor may prescribe antibiotics in the form of injections or tablets to cure the boil. Usually this is Tetracycline or Erythromycin, but here it is of no small importance whether the person has an individual intolerance to the components of the medicine. Also, such treatment is not prescribed during pregnancy, nursing mothers, and with caution - small children.

If the boil turns out to be the cause of a very high temperature, this is an alarming symptom, and the doctor may insist on hospitalization: blood poisoning is possible, and therefore surgery is possible; in order to minimize this option, the disease must be properly treated.

To do this, immunostimulants and vitamins are first prescribed, the boil is treated with tampons, Vishnevsky ointment, tar ointment or Levomekol ointment, if this does not help - with Dimexide solution, diluted with boiled water in proportions 1:5, for delicate skin - 1:10 (such a solution will eliminate the possibility chemical burn of the ear canal).

If all the measures taken do not help, and the boil continues to increase in size, accompanied by painful symptoms, doctors decide to remove the boil: under anesthesia, they make an incision and remove the rod along with the affected cells. After surgery, the doctor prescribes medications (usually antibiotics), ointments, and immunomodulators for recovery.

Prevention

In order to prevent the formation of a boil in the outer ear, it is necessary to ensure that the ears are dry, especially for those with sensitive skin. To do this, while washing your hair, you need to try to do everything so that water, shampoo, and soap do not get into the outer ear.

You need to clean your ears very carefully; when using cotton swabs, you must keep in mind that they are intended for cleaning the ears, but not the ear canals. To clean the ear canal, you need to twist a flagellum from cotton wool, moisten it in hydrogen peroxide, squeeze it out and place it in the ear for five minutes.

If the ear has been scratched, it is necessary to treat it with antiseptics or anti-inflammatory ointments, otherwise there is a high probability of infection getting into the wound, which will cause inflammation, suppuration and will be more difficult to treat.

Considering that the appearance of a boil in the external auditory canal is often affected by hypovitaminosis, it is necessary to take vitamins and eat as many vegetables and fruits as possible in the summer.

You can improve your health by hardening your body, spending a long time in the fresh air, taking sun and air baths.

Boils (boils) is an acute inflammation of the skin, in which purulent contents form inside the affected area.

This happens due to pyogenic bacteria (most often the culprit is Staphylococcus aureus, less often - white Staphylococcus). Boils appear due to contamination of the skin and after minor injuries (microtraumas).

The prevalence of pyoderma (groups of diseases that include boils) is quite large and accounts for about 30% of all skin diseases. Boils on the ears account for 15% of all dermatological diseases.

The number of boils on the face has almost doubled over the past decades.

Risk factors

The main risk factors for the disease:

• contacts with staphylococcal carriers (people with infections caused by staphylococcus, especially chronic furunculosis);
• diabetes mellitus (weak immunity);
• otitis (or frequent shooting in the ear);
• skin diseases (acne, pimples, eczema destroy the protective layers of the skin);
• reduced immunity (illness, vitamin deficiency, nervous disorders).

Causes

A furuncle appears in the membranous-cartilaginous part of the ear canal when staphylococcus affects the follicle, sulfur, and sweat glands.

Main reasons:

Symptoms

Symptoms:

Diagnostics

How to diagnose a boil:

• examination of the patient by a therapist, palpation of the ear;
• retraction of the auricle;
• impact on the cartilage located at the bottom of the auricle);
• examination by an ENT specialist using special instruments.

Diagnosing a boil is not particularly difficult, because the symptoms for inflammation of the external auditory canal are quite specific. Edema of the mastoid process can mislead the doctor or complicate the diagnosis.

With more careful examination and the passage of time, the diagnosis becomes easier.

Treatment

If a boil is detected at the initial stage, abortive treatment is used.

1. Broad spectrum antibacterial drugs.
2. A swab (or turunda) soaked in a 60% solution of ethyl alcohol is inserted into the ear.
3. Treating the ear canal with a cotton swab dipped in an alcohol solution of iodine and ethyl alcohol. A solution of silver nitrate (5%) is also suitable.
4. Analgesics (during the entire treatment).
5. Antibiotics and antibacterial drugs (during the entire treatment).
6. Ultrahigh-frequency physiotherapy for the sore ear and quartz treatment of the sore spot.
7. If another infection may be attached to the boil, which will cause an abscess, incision (opening of the boil) is necessary before it opens spontaneously (usually on the 5th day).
8. Surgical intervention is reduced to opening the boil under local anesthesia.
9. After opening (spontaneously or with the help of a doctor), the void formed in the ear should be washed with an antiseptic (disinfected).
10. Then rinse with an antibiotic solution (disinfect).
11. If the appearance of a boil is severe (or furunculosis is observed), then the patient is offered to undergo a course of autohemotherapy with ultraviolet irradiation of the blood.

Autohemotherapy- This is the introduction of fresh venous blood to the patient intramuscularly. Before administration, the blood is exposed to ultraviolet irradiation (UVR). It is inserted into the upper outer part of the buttocks.

After the injection, apply a heating pad. Such treatment regimens are prescribed to each patient individually. The maximum number of injections is 15 pieces. During the course, most patients experience an increase in temperature and swelling in the injection area. If such symptoms appear, it is necessary to reduce the dose of injections.

Simultaneously with autohemotherapy, the patient is administered an antibiotic, an immunoprotector vitamin complex, an antihistamine, an toxoid (or anatistaphylococcal vaccine).

With a strong increase in temperature, the patient is prescribed bed rest, only liquid food, a ban on talking and chewing movements.

At home, a boil in the ear can be treated with dimexide (in a ratio of 1:5 or 1:10 with water or sodium chloride). Chemical burns during home treatment are unacceptable because the skin of the ear canal is delicate.

Dry heat also gives good results in the treatment of boils in the external auditory canal. The method is aimed at accelerating its maturation. To do this, the patient applies a heating pad with warm, almost hot, water. The heating pad is covered with a towel and applied closer to the sore spot (or lie on it with the sore ear).

Also, to speed up the breakthrough of the boil, a Minin reflector (mirror lamps) is used. Having a certain chemical composition, the lamp directs all its properties to warming up the boil. You should not overuse warming up, because... If the staphylococcus virus accidentally enters the bloodstream under the influence of heat, infection will soon occur. Warming up period is 15 minutes per day.

Folk remedies

Traditional methods of treatment are also very effective:

Complications

You cannot open the boil yourself - this will lead to rapid infection of neighboring areas of the skin. It can also cause pus to leak into the middle ear.

The patient's health will deteriorate greatly. For this reason, a person should sleep only on the side of the sore ear (if a boil breaks out at night, the pus will not penetrate inside).

Existing complications:

• chronic otitis;
• mastoiditis (which in turn leads to inflammation of the inner ear, damage to the facial nerves, structure and membrane of the brain);
• various intracranial complications;
• inflammation of the lymph nodes with purulent cavities (lymphadenitis);
• vein thrombosis (obstruction of the free movement of blood through the vessels);
• sepsis (infection of the body with microbes through the blood).

Prevention

Doctors note the following types of prevention:

Forecast

Treatment time ranges from 1.5 to 3 months. If boils in the external auditory canal, ear, face, or just boils on the body appear constantly (or one after another), then there is a possibility of developing furunculosis. This may also be a sign of the development of diabetes.

conclusions

Summarizing the above, we can draw the following conclusions:

1. Reduced immunity, otitis media and contact with staphylococcus carriers can trigger the appearance of a boil.
2. The main signs of boils are itching and irritation of the skin.
3. Treatment at the initial stage is abortive, with the use of antibiotics, antiseptics and analgesics.
4. At home, boils are treated with Dimexide.
5. Among the folk remedies, onion juice, boric alcohol, iodine and Vishnevsky ointment bring results.
6. Ways to prevent the occurrence of boils: careful handling of the skin and ear cavity, taking vitamins, strengthening the immune system.

ENT (otolaryngologist)

Conducts prevention, treatment and diagnosis of diseases of the nose and paranasal sinuses (sinusitis, rhinitis), diseases of the outer and middle ear (otitis), nosebleeds, diseases of the pharynx and larynx (laryngitis, pharyngitis, tonsillitis).

A furuncle in the ear is often diagnosed in patients of different ages and is a painful inflammation of the hair follicle with an accumulation of purulent contents. The reasons for the development of such a pathology can be different, and the disease is most severe in young children, who are not yet able to explain what hurts them.

Many patients turn to a specialist with the question of how to treat a boil in the ear, because it causes them discomfort and pain. Elimination of such formations in the hearing organ is carried out using both traditional means and traditional medicine recipes.

The main reason for the formation of a boil in the ear is considered to be the penetration of various pathogenic microorganisms into the organ, among which Staphylococcus aureus is considered the most common. At the same time, for its implementation under the epidermis it is necessary to create certain conditions.

Possible reasons:

• The most common cause of infection of the hearing organ is considered to be various injuries. A child can easily scratch in or behind the ear with dirty hands, thereby scratching the epidermis and causing an infection.
• Many bacteria reside quietly under the epidermis, but do not have any negative effects on the body. This is due to the fact that in a healthy person the immune system functions fully, and thereby prevents pathogenic microorganisms from multiplying and developing. If any malfunction occurs in the human body, the consequence may be the appearance of various pustules and boils in the organ of hearing.
• Often bacteria and infection enter the ear when it is not cleaned properly. The appearance of boils can be provoked by carrying out such a procedure using too sharp objects or by using increased force during cleansing.
• In some cases, the provoking factor for the appearance of a boil in the organ of hearing may be hypothermia of the body. This leads to a decrease in the body’s defenses and pathogenic microorganisms living in tissues begin to actively multiply and progress.
• Another common reason for the appearance of a formation in the ear is the entry of water into the organ and its further stagnation. The fact is that high humidity is considered a favorable condition for the activation of pathogenic microorganisms.

Experts say that the formation of a boil in the ear can also be provoked by such pathological conditions of the body as imbalance of hormone levels, diabetes mellitus, diseases of the endocrine system and autoimmune nature.

Main symptoms

The entire process of formation of a boil in the external auditory canal takes approximately 10 days. In the first few days after the penetration of pathogenic microorganisms into the organ of hearing, an infiltrate begins to develop, that is, cellular elements containing blood and lymph accumulate in one place.The consequence of this is the coloring of the skin in a bright red color, its strong compaction and it becomes purple-bluish in color.

Over the next few days, a purulent core forms, at the top of which a vesicle appears. Subsequently, suppuration and necrosis of pathological cells are observed, after which the resulting boil begins to rot. As a result of this, the vesicle bursts, purulent exudate flows out, and the patient begins to recover.

The following signs may indicate suppuration in the ear canal:

• the occurrence of severe pain in the hearing organ
• the process of chewing and talking causes severe pain
• burning, itching and swelling appear in the ear canal
• the size of the parotid lymph nodes increases noticeably
• body temperature rises

When a boil appears in the ear, it is quite difficult to endure it, since it is accompanied by constantly shooting pain in the organ and the patient’s performance decreases. Another characteristic symptom for this pathology is considered to be general weakness of the body and the presence of irritability.

Drug treatment

Before you start treating a boil in the ear, you must consult a specialist. He will conduct a thorough examination of the patient and select the most effective medications and procedures.

Most often, when treating a boil, medications such as Erythromycin, Tetracycline, Rulid and others are prescribed. If the pathology becomes advanced, drug therapy involves injections with antibiotics. In some situations, autohemotherapy is prescribed, that is, an intramuscular injection of one’s own blood is performed, which should be repeated every two days.

At the initial stage of the disease, the use of water compresses, UHF and ultraviolet irradiation is allowed. In the event that a boil opens, special tampons are used to remove purulent exudate, which are soaked in ointments with a pulling effect. At the final stage, treatment of a boil involves washing the inflamed area with boric vaseline, which helps get rid of itching.

If the appearance of a boil is accompanied by an increase in body temperature, this may be a dangerous signal.

Blood poisoning may occur and the patient may require surgery.After opening the boil, the ear is usually washed with hydrogen peroxide and a sterile bandage is applied with a hypertonic solution, Vishnevsky ointment or Levomekol.

If treatment is carried out correctly, there is no need for surgical intervention, and it is resorted to only when various complications arise and nearby tissues are involved in the inflammatory process. If drug therapy is started in a timely manner at the initial stage, the boil can resolve on its own without reaching the maturation stage.

Folk remedies against illness

Treatment of a boil in the ear can be carried out using traditional medicine, and the following are considered the most effective among them:

1. Make a hole in a small onion and pour linseed oil into it. The hole must be covered with rye bread crumb and put the onion in the oven. After the root vegetable is baked, the juice must be squeezed out of it, which should then be instilled into the sore ear.
2. It is necessary to prepare a thick mass from rye flour and honey with the consistency of thick clay, from which you should make a flat cake. The prepared cake should be placed on the inflamed boil, covered with compression paper on top and wrapped thoroughly. It is recommended to perform this procedure before going to bed, remembering to change the bandage every 5 hours.
3. At home, you can prepare a mixture of Vishnevsky ointment and fir oil in proportions 3:7. The resulting mass should be applied to a bandage, and then to the boil, while covering it with paper for compresses. This bandage needs to be changed 2-3 times a day.

A common mistake patients make is trying to remove an abscess from the external auditory canal on their own. In most cases, such an opening ends with additional suppuration of nearby tissues or recurrence of the boil.

More information about what a boil is can be found in the video:

In order to avoid the appearance of a boil in the organ of hearing, it is necessary to ensure that the ears are constantly dry. To do this, when washing your hair, it is important to carry out the procedure in such a way that water, shampoo or soap does not get into the hearing organ.You should clean your ears carefully and use cotton swabs only to clean the ears, but never the passages. To clean the ears, it is recommended to make a flagellum out of cotton wool, moisten it in hydrogen peroxide, squeeze it lightly and place it in the hearing organ for a few minutes.

As a preventive measure, you should follow the rules of personal hygiene and be sure to wash your hands. In addition, you need to avoid hypothermia of the body, increase its protective functions and eat right.If you experience pain in the ear, you should definitely consult a doctor, and under no circumstances self-medicate. The fact is that improper treatment can result in complications such as sepsis, thrombophlebitis and carbuncle.