According to many people, a banal pimple in the ear does not present any danger to the hearing, but for life even more so. Thus it is necessary to understand that the formed abscess of the external ear without treatment on the background of weakened immunity can lead even to a lethal outcome.
This happens rarely, several factors must coincide for this, but at the onset of the disease no one knows how its progression will occur, so it is advisable to know what the abscess of the external ear is, what kinds of species are, and what to do with it.
Abscess of external ear
In itself, the abscess of the external ear is an necrotic lesion of the ear canal or ear. The triggered disease involves not only soft tissue, but also the temporal bone, penetrating to the cranial nerves and the medullary membranes.
In most cases, serious progression of the disease occurs in people with immunodeficiency or diabetes mellitus.
But in a person with simply greatly weakened immunity without treatment, the abscess of the external ear can lead to serious consequences.
The reasons for the appearance of an abscess can be both the ingress of bacteria from outside, and because of the penetration of pus during the perforation of the tympanic membrane during the disease with otitis media.
In general, the ear abscess refers to external otitis media, but inflammations are different. Diffuse otitis media can occur due to an untreated abscess.
Simple limited external otitis - this is the same abscess formed by a furuncle, carbuncle or inflamed atheroma.
An abscess may appear in the ear canal, on the earlobe or behind the ear. This gives a variety of diseases that have pronounced differences.
Species
Restricted otitis externa, even with mild symptoms, requires observation and subsequent treatment. Seizure of the sebaceous gland, left unattended and transferred to suppuration, can lead to the appearance of an abscess.
Three types of abscesses are most often identified with regard to localization:
- Behind the ear
- On the earlobe
- Subperiostal.
The last variant of the abscess is especially dangerous, it is the subperiosteal abscess, which can cause the penetration of the inflammatory process to maximum depth. Abscesses behind the ear are the most common phenomena - emerging atheromas in this area often become inflamed.
The ear lobes of the ear lobes also have a tendency to get nagged, but more often the inflammation occurs due to injuries. It can be scratches with nails or earrings, and often abscesses on the lobe occur after a piercing of the ears.
Photo of varieties of ear abscess in a person
Symptoms of
One of the main symptoms of the disease is ear pain from moderate to very severe. With limited external otitis, the pain is focused at the site of the inflammation of the hair follicle.
A spilled necrotic process can cause severe pain in the entire ear. In some cases, a diffuse form of external otitis may occur because of an untreated furuncle in the auditory canal.
Along with the pain of frequent abscess satellites are:
- Stuffing in the ear.
- Loss of acuity of hearing.
- Increased body temperature.
- Appearance of the discharge from the ear.
- The presence of redness and narrowing of the ear canal.
- Obvious swelling or appearance of abscess.
Young children are not able to tell about hearing loss or the appearance of stuffiness, they can get fever, will appear detachable from the ear, as well as other visual manifestations.
Treatment of
Treatment of an abscess is quite a lot - it is impossible to do just one type. Usually, medicamentous and physiotherapeutic treatment is carried out, and surgical intervention is often required.
In addition, there are various folk ways, but they should not be completely relied on, although on the recommendation of a doctor, their use in combination with traditional treatment is possible.
Medicated
For the treatment of abscess in most cases, antibiotics or antiviral drugs are prescribed. Since more often the disease is caused by bacteria, antibiotics in the form of ointments, drops, tablets and injections are almost always present.
Even with the treatment of abscess caused by fungi, antibacterial therapy is necessary because of the high probability of infection.
Also necessary during daily hygiene are used antiseptic solutions for the treatment of the external ear. The processing process in some cases is carried out twice or more per day, but after overcoming the disease, it is necessary to switch to cleaning the external auditory meatus not more than once a week.
Traditional medicine
Because most often the disease is of a bacterial nature, doctors do not recommend home compresses. For treatment, wipes, drops, turundas and lotions can be used:
- Juice of baked garlic or onion
- Alcohol tinctures of propolis or celandine
- Aloe and calanchoe juice
- Infusions and herbs of medicinal herbs( chamomile, calendula, P.).
It will also be useful to use various vitamin and anti-inflammatory decoctions instead of drinking. Do not give in to the desire to squeeze out an abscess on your own - it can be even more dangerous than just leaving it untreated.
Any folk methods must be combined with traditional medicine.
Physiotherapy and alternative methods
The most common procedure for abscesses of the ear is actinotherapy. This procedure can be conditionally called "light" treatment because of the use of lamps with infrared and ultraviolet glow.
At the final stages of treatment, UHF and paraffin therapy are used, and in the case of other inflammatory processes in the ear, it is possible to use iontophoresis with medicinal substances.
Physiotherapy can not replace medicines in full - treatment procedures must necessarily be combined with taking medications.
Surgical intervention
Often the presence of an abscess requires surgical intervention. In the initial stage of the disease, not a global operation is required - a simple excision of the abscess is necessary to remove the contents.
Assign a cut abscess not to everyone - it depends on its size, the patient's immunity, its age and general condition.
In some cases, doctors try to stop the inflammatory process without the use of surgery. This is mainly practiced at the very beginning of the disease and with a well-being of the patient with the mandatory use of antibiotics.
Attention is also drawn to the size of the abscess and, as it increases, surgical opening is inevitable.
How to treat an abscess of the ear, see in our video:
Prevention
As with many other diseases of the ears, the appearance of abscesses is preventable.
- The most important in this process is the strengthening of immunity, proper hygiene, prevention of hypothermia and overheating.
- To strengthen immunity, it is necessary to use various systems of hardening, vitamin and mineralotherapy, diet, as well as regular outdoor exposure.
- Especially it is necessary to allocate air baths, especially for children. The constant wearing of a hood even in warm weather can not help to protect yourself from ear diseases. It is necessary to remove the headdress in a timely manner at high temperatures in the street, and also wear it with wind and cold snaps.
- Another thing worth highlighting is proper care of ears and hygiene in general. Excessive efforts to purify sulfur from the ears can injure the skin of the ear canal and provoke infection. Ears should be cleaned carefully and not more than once a week.
- It is necessary to pay attention to the hygiene of hands and nails - do not climb in the ear with dirty fingers. Especially if the nails are rather long or sharp.
- The same applies to the use of unsuitable items for hygiene - studs and matches can not be used to clean the ears or to overcome itching.
Prevention plays an important role in preventing the disease, but when it occurs, you can not rely on the case, you need to start treatment.
The disease is of various types, some of which are capable of causing serious damage to health, so do not neglect both prevention and timely treatment.