ENT conditions (Mr Gaurav Kumar)

  My Child’s Ear Hurts or Itches After Swimming — Could It Be Swimmer’s Ear? Swimming lessons are finished, and your child seemed completely well when they left the pool. Later that evening—or perhaps the following day—they start rubbing one ear. They may say: “It feels itchy inside.” “My ear hurts when I touch it.” “It feels blocked.” Sometimes there is even a small amount of watery or unpleasant-smelling discharge. Parents naturally wonder whether water is simply trapped in the ear or whether their child has developed an ear infection. One possibility is otitis externa , commonly called swimmer’s ear . The important point is that swimmer’s ear is not the same type of ear infection as the middle-ear infections commonly seen after childhood colds . Understanding the difference helps parents know what to do—and what not to put inside the ear. What exactly is swimmer’s ear? Swimmer’s ear is inflammation or infection of the skin lining the ear canal . The ear canal is the short passag...

  Why is fluid, pus, or Blood Coming from My Child’s Ear? A Parent’s Guide to Ear Discharge Seeing fluid coming from your child’s ear can be worrying. The discharge may be clear, yellow, creamy, green, smelly or slightly blood-stained. Some children have significant ear pain before the discharge appears. Others seem surprisingly comfortable once the ear starts to drain. Parents often ask the same urgent question: “Has my child’s eardrum burst?” Sometimes the answer is yes. A middle-ear infection can cause pressure to build behind the eardrum until a small perforation develops, allowing infected fluid to drain out. However, this is not the only cause of ear discharge. The fluid may instead be coming from the ear canal, through a grommet, from irritated skin, or from another ear condition. The appearance of the discharge alone cannot always identify the cause. Mr Gaurav Kumar, Consultant ENT Surgeon, assesses children with ear, hearing and other paediatric ENT concerns from London, E...