What's the matter with clear water flowing out of the ears

Human ears are used to hear sounds. If the ears cannot hear sounds, people will have no way to communicate with the outside world. Some people may have ear abnormalities due to a variety of reasons. For example, some people find that their ears are always flowing with clear water. This may be caused by abnormal secretions after the ears are hit. Let’s take a look at what is going on when clear water comes out of the ears?

Fatty otorrhea

Due to excessive secretion of the cerumen glands in the external auditory canal, the wax is mostly yellowish brown or light yellow, sticky and oily, generally without odor, commonly known as oily ears.

Purulent otorrhea

It is a manifestation of suppurative inflammation, common in acute and chronic suppurative otitis media, otitis externa, furunculosis, etc. In addition, rare cases of suppurative mumps, suppurative cervical lymphadenitis, etc. may also cause purulent otorrhea when the tube ruptures into the external auditory canal. If the pus is not large but has a foul odor, the possibility of cholesteatoma should be considered.

Bloody otorrhea

Most of them are related to trauma, and bullous tympanitis, ear trauma, and some otitis media may also be considered, but be alert to hemangioma or middle ear cancer. Especially in the case of middle ear cancer, if there is blood in the pus, the pus has a foul odor, or there is severe ear pain or headache, it is a bad sign. Suspicious tissues in the external auditory canal or middle ear should be taken for pathological examination to determine the diagnosis and treatment measures.

Watery otorrhea

It often occurs in craniocerebral trauma with skull base fracture and tympanic membrane rupture, with clear water-like liquid slowly flowing out of the external auditory canal, often mixed with blood. This is a characteristic of cerebrospinal fluid otorrhea, which requires special attention because it may cause meningitis.

Serous otorrhea

The pale yellow, transparent, thin liquid is mostly secretion from the serous glands of the middle ear mucosa or serum leaked from the blood vessels. It can be seen in the early aspiration fluid of secretory otitis media and the overflow after tympanostomy tube placement, or in the recovery period of otitis media. If the amount of liquid of this nature is large and it overflows continuously, it is mostly allergic otitis media.

Generally speaking, if there is water flowing from the ears, that is, if there is secretion in the ears, you first need to rinse the external auditory canal several times with hydrogen peroxide, and then rinse off the hydrogen peroxide with saline. Next, clean the saline solution with a cotton swab and then put two drops of ofloxacin ear drops into the ear. In addition, through combined external and internal medication treatment with oral antibiotics such as amoxicillin capsules, the condition will generally improve after about three days of continuous flushing.