Can ear drum infection leads to perforation or hole in ear drum, well yes ear drum infection can cause perforation in ear drum very significantly with hearing loss as well as discharge.
What is ear drum infection, why you get ear drum infection?
Ear infection, otitis media or ear drum infection is a condition that occurs when a virus or bacteria enters the space behind the eardrum and makes that part of ear inflamed, its also called otitis media.
A middle ear infection is the most common type of ear infection which is more prevalent in among childrens.
What are the types of ear infection depending on sites?
The ear infection can be caused in different sites of the ear, in the external ear, in middle ear which is very common and rarely in inner ear.
Common symptoms of external ear infection?
- Fullness
- Drop in hearing
- Infection in external ear cause pain predominantly and drop in hearing is common feature that can range in between twenty decibels to up to fifty decibels sometime.
Common symptoms of middle ear infection?
- Middle ear infection starts with-:
- Infection
- Pain with infection
- Pain may very from mild to moderate or even sharp pain.
Common symptoms of inner ear infection
Infection in inner ear or ear drum causes:-
- Ear discharge
- Invariably drop in hearing
- Giddiness
- Tinnitus
Ear infection in children can lead to other problems like:-
It is easier for parents to recognise the condition in children who are able to articulate how they are feeling than in infants or toddlers.
Hearing problem and other serious complication can develop from long-term exposure to ear infection with persistent infection or fluid in the middle ear.
Otitis media with effusion which occurs when mucus and fluid is persistent or continue to build up in the middle ear, after an infection has resolved it may also occur some dysfunction like non-infectious blockage of the Eustachian tube.
Symptoms of ear infection in children
Following symptoms are common in children:-
Crying more than usual
Difficulty in sleeping
Ear pain specially while lying down
Tugging at the ears
Difficulty in hearing
Loss of balance
Headache
Drainage of fluid
Fever 100° F or higher
Irritability
Loss of appetite
Diarrhoea
What are the adult symptoms of ear infection?
Adult symptoms may include:-
- Diminished hearing
- Drainage of fluid from the ear
- Ear pain
Causes of ear infection
Why you gets an ear infection ?well there are number of reasons why a middle may occur some of the reasons are:-
Respiratory tract infection
Respiratory tract infection such as cold, flu or allergy that spreads to the ear and causes infection in ear, these infection causes congestion and swelling of the nasal passage, throat and Eustachian ( a pair of narrow tube that runs from middle ear to high in the back of the throat behind the nasal passage)tube, swelling, inflammation
Infection of respiratory tract leads to blockage and causing the accumulation of fluid in the middle ear, that gives opportunity to grow bacteria and viruses in that fluid and create ear infection.
Self cleaning habits
Ear infection also occurs due to self cleaning habits for example people have habits of using different types of instruments which can be pin, pens, keys, earbuds infect ear buds are not designed for cleaning the ear.
These practices can cause injuries which leads to infections because you just push the wax inside the ear and injure the structure of ear.
There have been instances where the ear drum has been ruptured because of energetic self cleaning because you are not seeing what you are cleaning.
Swimming in dirty pool or water
Swimming in dirty pools or water is another cause of infection of the ear in swimmers, which can also identified as auto mycosis.
Blowing of nose very hard
Blowing nose very hard is not a very practice because this can also force bacteria into the middle ear from nose, so treating the infection in nose or throat is a very important aspect of preventing infections that happening in the ear.
Can ear infection causes perforation or hole in ear?
Ear infection can cause perforation if it is not treated in early stage, early stage infection starts from external ear and spreads to inner ear if not treated.
Infection which causes a perforation in the ear drum can cause a very significant hearing loss as well as with discharge.
So, person with who has a discharge has an infection of the middle ear. Giddiness is a problem that is associated with infection spreads from the other sides.
Can you prevent ear drum infection or ear infection?
Outer ear infection are best prevented by avoiding contamination of the outer canal of ear. But if you have never had an outer ear infection then you likely don’t have to take any precaution.
But if you have propensity to get outer ear infection then you have to be very careful when you go try not to get water in your ear. Also you need to be careful when you take shower not to get water in your ear.
It’s also equally important to not manipulate your ear with any foreign body such as Q tip or hair pin.
In case of children how you can prevent the ear infection:-
The only way to avoid these infection is to isolate your child because children most often pick up these ear infection when they go to school and unfortunately kids come to school when they are sick and they spread infection.
Upper respiratory tract infection in children either due to a cold, or sinus infection or bronchitis which is highly contagious, if the child has a history of infection then it is important to avoid any contamination to ear.
Unfortunately there is no way to prevent inner ear infection because viruses are ubiquitous they catch us when we least expect.
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