What causes discharge from ear canal & how to manage it? – Dr. Satish Babu K

Discharge from ear canals can happen due to various reasons and from various regions. Most common is the middle part of the ear, that is from behind the ear drum, where there is a mucous membrane, like the pink part of the nose and the mouth. There is one such cavity that is containing this mucous membrane, which secretes a lot of mucus. When there is hole in the ear drum, why this mucus secretion can come out from the ear canal and hence forth you can see the discharge coming out. this is purely mucoidal and if there is any infection around that the quantity becomes much more and the discharge colour also is changed. This is the most common. One the other common causes are any infection in the outside part of the ear that is lateral to the ear drum, the ear canal or the pinna. There is any infection of injuries, then that can lead to this kind of discharge, which is not mucous. Mostly it is watery discharge or sometimes blood stained or sometimes it can be pus. This can be in the outer ear. In this situation, if you look at the ear, the eardrum is going to be intact. This also can have a foul smell, or colored or water discharge. It can be produced by a bacterial infection or a fungal infection in the external part of the ear. There are causes could be injury to the local region. Even if you pierce ear bud into the local region ,the ear next to the skin which is peeled off or the ulceration which is formed, can secrete some watery discharge that can be seen on the external ear. Most serious injuries to the ear and the bone surrounding, the skull surrounding it can lead to more significant or continuous or quantity wise more discharge coming on a regular basis. The cerebrospinal fluid or the fluid around the brain leaking through the fracture line can come out through the ear, we have to investigate and see where the fluid is coming from.