What causes water to remain in the ears?

Nowadays, many people have water discharge from their ears after waking up. This is an inflammation inside the ear, and the condition needs to be diagnosed based on the specific circumstances of the water discharge from the ear. It is best to go to the ENT department of the hospital for an internal examination. Do not take medication at will at home to avoid delaying the condition. When taking a bath, be careful not to let water enter your ears to avoid aggravating the condition. This article introduces the possible causes and treatments of ear discharge. Let’s take a look.

1. What causes water to flow from the ears?

Fatty otorrhea

Due to excessive secretion of the cerumen glands in the external auditory canal, the wax is mostly yellowish brown or light yellow, sticky and oily, generally without odor, commonly known as oily ears.

Purulent otorrhea

It is a manifestation of suppurative inflammation, common in acute and chronic suppurative otitis media, otitis externa, furunculosis, etc. In addition, rare cases of suppurative mumps, suppurative cervical lymphadenitis, etc. may also cause purulent otorrhea when the tube ruptures into the external auditory canal. If the pus is small but has a foul odor, the possibility of cholesteatoma should be considered.

Bloody otorrhea

This condition is mostly caused by trauma, but it may also be caused by ear trauma and otitis media. Hemangioma and middle ear cancer can also cause this symptom.

2. How to treat ear discharge

Inflammation is mainly treated with anti-inflammatory treatment, such as 3% hydrogen peroxide ear washing, 2.5% chloramphenicol ear drops or 0.3% ofloxacin ear drops for otolysis treatment. Acute cases still require systemic antibiotics.

If it is caused by trauma, the external ear laceration should be sutured. If there is a temporal bone fracture or cranial injury, the author should ask the neurosurgeon to cooperate in the treatment. If there is cerebrospinal fluid leakage, the ear canal should not be packed.

Otitis media of the edentulous type, cholesteatoma type, and middle ear cancer are mainly treated with surgery

In addition to antibacterial drugs, eczema infections should also be treated with anti-allergic drugs, such as oral antihistamines.

If there is a lump blocking the ear canal, it can be removed or softened by dripping 3% baking soda solution into the ear, and then flushing the ear canal after 3 days to drain it out.

3. Characteristics of ear discharge

According to the properties of the outflowing liquid, there are: greasy: greasy ears, commonly known as oily ears. Watery: The discharge from ear canal eczema is yellow, the rupture of bullous myringitis is bloody and watery, simple otitis media is mostly sticky pus with a fishy smell, and cholesteatoma otitis media is smelly pus. Purulent and bloody: There are smelly pus and blood from middle ear cancer, bloody pus from otitis media, and fresh blood flowing out from trauma.