Does Your Child Suffer From Chronic Ear Infection?

Chronic ear infection is a non-healing disease if the treatment gets delayed. A repetitive ear infection may act as a chronic ear infection and also commonly referred to as recurrent acute otitis media. This infection affects the space behind the eardrum (middle ear).

The Eustachian tube can be plugged and lead to an infection which drains fluid from the middle ear. That fluid accumulation presses the eardrum in the middle eye and causes pain. If an infection is rapidly progressing or untreated, the eardrum may rupture. Eustachian tubes are smaller and more horizontal in children, making them easier to plug. This is one reason why ear infections occur in children more often. If so happens or your child suffers from earache or fluid comes out, visit a pediatric ENT.

How does chronic ear infection look? What do we have?

The cause of chronic ear infection could be milder than an acute ear infection. Symptoms can affect an ear or both and maybe constant or occurring. Chronic ear disease symptoms include:

  • Pressure sensation in the ear

  • Mild pain

  • Fluid drainage

  • Fever

  • Hearing inability

  • Sleeping difficulties

An ear infected baby may appear more stubborn than usual, especially when lying down, because the pressure on the ear. Your baby may also change eating and sleeping habits. Pulling and pulling the ear may also be a sign that children have a chronic ear infection. This can, however, also is done through teething or body exploration.

Contact your pediatrician as soon as possible when your child has an earache or ear symptoms. Some ear infections can become self-evident. Pain can be controlled by:

  • Warm packs to the ear or a bottle of hot water

  • Pain relievers

  • Kids over 2 years of age receive ear drops

  • Saltwater rinse

  • Clearing tube nasal spray

  • Moisturizer in a cool environment

The most common to least types of ear infections are:

Acute Otitis Media

The middle ear is infected and swollen, picking up fluid behind the stomach in this most typical type of earache. Your child may have a fever in addition to pain.

Otitis Media with Effusion

Sometimes, the fluid is trapped behind the eardrum after an infection in the ear. Your child may not have any symptoms, but the trapped fluid can be displayed with a special instrument by your pediatric ENT.

Chronic Otitis Media with Effusion (COME)

The fluid can be trapped at the back of the middle ear or return again and again, even if an infection is not present. This condition can influence the hearing of your child and makes combating new infections difficult.

Chronic Ear Infection Treatment in Children

If your child gets several ear infections for 3-12 months, the doctor may recommend placing the extra fluid drain on your child's ear using a myringotomy tube. In a state of the art operating room our pediatric ENTs perform minimum invasive surgery. You open the affected eardrum in small numbers and then place the fluid in a very thin tube. The pressure removed from the eardrum also returns the hearing to normal for your child.

You bring your child periodically into the office once your ENT has placed the tube to ensure that the tube is still in place and that the fluid drains well. Your ENT expert also assesses the hearing of your child. In most cases, after about 12-18 months, the tubes fall on their own. See us at OKOA if your children is suffering from any ENT or allergy issues.

**Disclaimer: The information on this page is not intended to be a doctor's advice, nor does it create any form of patient-doctor relationship.

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