As practice shows, very often patients turn to an otolaryngologist when they experience bleeding from the ear. This condition is characterized by the fact that a red liquid begins to stand out from the external auditory canal. If a person is bleeding from the ear, in such a situation, determining the condition is quite simple. It is much more difficult to find out the cause of such a symptom. Why does the ear bleed? What to do in this case? This article will answer these questions.
Features
Many, when faced with a problem for the first time, do not even have an idea of what it means if blood comes from the ear. This condition can occur as a result of a number of pathologies. With this problem, both adults and children are treated equally to doctors. There have even been cases where ear bleeding has been diagnosed in newborn babies, as well as in older people who have never experienced ear diseases throughout their lives.
Most often these pathologies suffermen. There are even cases when the appearance of ear bleeding indicated a developing disease that the person did not even suspect.
Why you need to know the reasons
When a person has unnatural discharge from the ear, it is very important to find out the cause of such a process in a timely manner and start treatment. The prognosis of the disease and methods of treatment depend on this. The disease cannot be triggered. The sooner you come to the doctor, the easier it will be to get rid of the disease.
Mechanical damage
As a result of mechanical tissue damage, both an adult and a child may experience blood from the ear. The most common mechanical damages include:
- Scratches and abrasions that may occur as a result of improper cleaning of the ears with cotton swabs. Such lesions most often end in a crust and do not require medical supervision and treatment.
- During ear cleaning, there are cases when someone pushes a person under the elbow, and this leads not only to pain, but also to the appearance of blood. In such a situation, you should seek the help of a doctor to make sure that there is no damage to the eardrum.
- Injury to the eardrum can also cause bleeding from the ear.
- Skull injuries. Such conditions are always accompanied by bleeding from the ear canal. If blood appears, you should definitely seek medical help, as the pathology poses a threat to life.
- Strike. As a result of a strong blow in the earmay bleed. This is due to vascular damage. In such a situation, the bleeding differs in duration, but not in abundance. Specialist help needed. After all, it is almost impossible to stop the bleeding on your own. Why does a teenager's ear bleed? Most often, when this question arises, the answer is hidden in elementary damage.
- Foreign body. This reason is mainly characteristic of young children, since they are the ones who like to put various small objects in their ears. Unfortunately, in most cases, it is not possible to immediately detect a foreign body in the ear. Over time, the item leads to inflammation and bleeding. It is impossible to fix the problem yourself, so you need to contact a specialist.
Infections
When the ear bleeds, the cause may lie in a developing infection. One of the most common pathologies is myringitis. The disease develops as a result of the fact that an infection penetrates into the ear from the external environment or the tympanic cavity. In addition to blood discharge, a person in such a situation is worried about pain, tinnitus and intoxication. When the first signs appear, you should immediately seek medical help, as if left untreated, the disease can become severe.
Another reason why adults bleed from the ear is the furuncle of the external auditory canal. Various injuries and abrasions can provoke such a disease, which contribute to the penetration of bacteria that provoke purulentinflammation. Blood appears with such a deviation after the boil bursts. Prior to this, the person is accompanied by pain, fever, chills and weakness. It is strictly forbidden to open an abscess on your own.
Ear candidiasis can also provoke bleeding, but only if the disease is running. After all, this symptom refers to severe complications of the disease.
Sometimes, if the ear is bleeding, the cause of such a sign is acute otitis media. Most often, before bleeding, a person is worried about fever, pain and purulent discharge.
Neoplasms
When an unpleasant symptom appears, people wonder why the ear is bleeding. The reasons may be different. Blood discharge may appear as a result of a neoplasm growing in the ear. The tumor can be either malignant or benign. Among other things, such an education is manifested by constant dizziness, pain and hearing loss.
If the ear is bleeding, the causes can be the most catastrophic. One of them is carcinoma, which is characterized by a growth in the ear that is constantly growing in size. Since as a result of strong compression of the blood vessels they are torn, blood is released from the ear. Do not delay treatment in such a situation.
Change in pressure
Many people wonder why blood is coming from the ear and what reason provoked such a deviation. Only a qualified specialist after a thorough examination will be able to accurately answer this question.
Often this manifestation is observed in persons who suffer from hypertension. In this case, ear bleeding occurs as a result of high blood pressure. In this state, bleeding is accompanied by headache, nausea, dizziness, and redness of the skin on the face. Why does the nose and ears bleed? First of all, you should measure your blood pressure. It may be the main reason.
First Aid
Regardless of why the ear bleeds without pain or with it, everyone should be able to cope with such a manifestation and give themselves first aid.
If ear bleeding has begun, the first thing to do is block the ear canal. To do this, you can use a cotton swab. It must first be moistened with an antiseptic solution. In this way, infections can be prevented from entering small wounds.
Most often, such a symptom goes away on its own and does not indicate a disease (of course, if other signs do not develop along with the discharge). If the bleeding from the ear canal does not stop for an hour or more, then this is a clear sign that immediate medical attention is required. This manifestation may indicate the development of serious pathological processes in the body.
What not to do?
When a person has blood from the ear, then in no case should such symptoms be ignored. Atthe appearance of such alarming signs, one should not warm the ear or apply a cold compress to it. It is also forbidden to wash the ear canal with homemade solutions or other preparations.
You should also not try to clean the blood out of the ear canal with ear sticks. The only thing that can be done in such a situation is to take pain medication and seek help from a medical facility.
Diagnosis
When a person bleeds from the ear, only a doctor can find out the cause of such a symptom. In order to make a diagnosis, a thorough examination of the external ear integuments is carried out in the doctor's office and the degree of discharge is assessed, and the parotid area is also palpated.
There are situations when the problem, manifested by blood discharge from the ear, has no ENT origin. If, after conducting research, it was not possible to identify the disease and make a diagnosis, but the symptoms persist, then in this case a surgeon is involved in finding the cause.
Most often, the diagnosis is made on the basis of examinations carried out by an ENT doctor. Also, two specialists can prescribe treatment at once, who will help stop the bleeding and choose the most effective treatment.
Treatment
After making a diagnosis, the doctor in each individual case will select the most effective treatment, which directly depends on the cause that provoked the appearance of blood from the ear canal. If a person is diagnosed with a disease of the hearing organs, then in this case the following are prescribedmedications:
- antiseptics;
- anti-inflammatory drugs;
- systemic antibiotics;
- antimycotic drugs.
It is not recommended to use any medications without first consulting a doctor, as improper treatment can provoke the development of serious complications.
If a benign or malignant neoplasm is recognized as the cause, then the patient is prescribed procedures such as radio wave, laser therapy, electrocoagulation or cryodestruction.
If the blood in the ear appeared as a result of an injury, then the only recommendation would be periodic treatment with an antiseptic. These types of injuries do not require qualified treatment and usually go away on their own. But the doctor makes the decision.
Prevention
Everyone has long known that any disease is much easier to prevent than to get rid of it later. This also applies to problems with the ears, which are manifested by the presence of bleeding.
In order to prevent the occurrence of this unpleasant symptom, you must adhere to the following recommendations:
- in order to clean the ears from sulfur and dirt, do not put ear sticks and other foreign objects too deep;
- Do not replace the ear sticks with any sharp objects that can pierce the eardrum.
Conclusion
So, it was considered for what reasons thisproblem and how to give yourself first aid. If ear bleeding appears with noticeable constancy, then this is a signal that it is necessary to visit a specialist as soon as possible. After all, only in this way can you find out the cause and get rid of it without the risk of complications.