EAR DISCHARGE OR DRAINAGE
Symptom Definition
- Drainage of substances with varied colors and consistency from the ear canal.
- Drainage through an ear tube is included.
Causes
- Normal discharge: earwax or water. Earwax is light brown, dark brown, or orange brown in color
- Main cause of abnormal discharge: an ear infection with drainage of cloudy fluid or pus through a ruptured eardrum or through a ventilation tube.
See More Appropriate Topic (instead of this one) If
- Follows ear injury, see EAR INJURY.
- Began while doing lots of swimming, see EAR, SWIMMER'S.
WHEN TO CALL YOUR DOCTOR
Call your doctor now (night or day) if:
- Your child looks or acts very sick.
- Pink or red swelling behind the ear.
- Clear or bloody fluid following head injury.
- Bleeding from the ear canal (Exception: few drops and follows ear exam).
- Fever above 105 F (40.6 C).
Call your doctor within 24 hours (between 9am and 4pm) if:
- You think your child needs to be seen.
- Ear pain or unexplained crying.
- Discharge is yellow or green, cloudy white or foul-smelling (pus).
- Clear drainage (not from a head injury) persists for more than 24 hours.
Call your doctor during weekday office hours if:
- You have other questions or concerns
Parent care at home if:
- Probably normal earwax or other harmless discharge and you don't think your child needs to be seen.
HOME CARE ADVICE FOR EAR DISCHARGE
- Earwax:
- Ear wax protects the lining of the ear canal and has germ-killing properties.
- If the earwax is removed, the ear canals become itchy.
- Do not use cotton swabs (Q-tips) in your child's ear.
- Call Your Doctor If: Begins to look like pus (yellow or green discharge)
- Clear Discharge (without head trauma):
- It's probably tears or water that entered the ear canal during a bath, shower, swimming or water fight.
- Don't overlook eardrops your child or someone else used without telling you.
- In children with ventilation tubes, some clear or slightly cloudy fluid can occur when a temporary tube blockage opens up and drains.
- Call Your Doctor If: Clear drainage persists for more than 24 hours or recurs
- Blood After Ear Exam:
- If your doctor had to remove ear wax in order to see the eardrum, about 10% of the time this causes a small scratch to the lining of the ear canal. Usually the scratch oozes 1 or 2 drops of blood and then clots.
- This should heal up completely in a few days.
- It shouldn't affect the hearing.
- Don't put anything in the ear canal because it will probably re-start the bleeding.
- Call Your Doctor If: Bleeding continues or recurs
- Suspected Ear Infection: Cloudy fluid or pus draining from the ear canal almost always means there's a small tear in the eardrum and a middle ear infection. Give acetaminophen (e.g., Tylenol) or ibuprofen for pain relief until the office visit. (See EARACHE for details)
- Call Your Doctor If:
- Your child becomes worse
And remember, contact your doctor if your child becomes worse or develops any of the "Call Your Doctor" symptoms.
REFERENCES
- Ah-Tye C, Paradise JL, Colborn DK. Otorrhea in young children after tympanostomy-tube placement for persistent middle-ear effusion: prevalence, incidence, and duration. Pediatrics. 2001;107:1251-1258.
- Bitar CN, Kluka EA, Steele RW. Mastoiditis in children. Clin Pediatr. 1996;35:391-395.
- Guest JF, Greener MJ, Robinson AC, Smith AF. Impacted cerumen: composition, production, epidemiology and management. Q J Med. 2004; 97:477-488.
- Schwartz RH and Bahadori RS. What to do for runny ears. Contemp Pediatr. 1999;16(5):121-131.
- Urkin J, Gazala E, Bar-David Y. Cleaning earwax: why you shouldn’t play it by ear. Contemporary Pediatrics. 2004; 21(2):73-86.
- Whatley VN, Dodds CL, Paul RI. Randomized clinical trial of docusate, triethanolamine polypeptide, and irrigation in cerumen removal in children. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2003; 157:1177-1180.
Disclaimer: This information is not intended be a substitute for professional medical advice. It is provided for educational purposes only. You assume full responsibility for how you choose to use this information.
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