What causes ear pain

Earache is not a single disease. There are many causes of earache, such as neuralgia, reflex earache, or otopathic earache. When ear pain occurs, patients often also experience symptoms such as tinnitus, dizziness, headache, and even hearing loss. In order to treat ear pain, it is necessary to understand the cause of the disease. For example, external ear disease is a symptom of ear pain caused by external trauma. If it is not treated in time, it is easy to cause secondary infection. It may even cause hearing loss or even perforation of the eardrum. In addition, the infection caused by sinusitis may also cause ear pain through the blood circulation.

Causes and common diseases

1. External ear diseases

(1) Trauma to the auricle External force applied to the auricle may cause hematoma or laceration of the auricle. Auricular hematoma often occurs on the dorsal side of the auricle, causing slight local pain. After secondary infection, the pain becomes severe.

(2) Serous chondritis of the auricle. Serous chondritis is a type of chondroitinitis in which fluid accumulates under the chondroitin of the concha or inside the cartilage. It is usually painless or only slightly swollen. Purulent chondroitinitis, local redness and swelling with fluctuation, severe pain.

(3) Herpes zoster oticus, also known as Bamsay Hunt syndrome, is characterized by severe ear pain. It can be divided into three types according to the condition. ① The herpes simplex type first causes ear discomfort or burning sensation, followed by ear pain, redness and swelling of the auricle and external auditory canal skin, and herpes occurs in the local skin 3 to 5 days later.

(4) Cerumen blockage or foreign matter in the external auditory canal may compress the ear canal skin or eardrum, causing severe pain, especially when it swells with water.

(5) Ear furuncle is an acute suppurative inflammation of the hair follicles or sebaceous glands in the skin of the external auditory canal, and is prone to occur in the cartilaginous part of the ear canal. Local redness, swelling and tenderness. Spontaneous severe pain, especially at night or when chewing.

(6) Acute diffuse otitis externa is a widespread suppurative infection of the skin of the external auditory canal. There is obvious spontaneous pain and pain with pulling of the auricle or tenderness of the tragus.

2. Middle ear diseases

(1) The most common cause of tympanic membrane trauma is a sudden increase in pressure in the external auditory canal, such as explosion, slapping, diving, etc. In addition, the eardrum may be damaged if the Eustachian tube is stretched too far or the instrument is inserted too deep when removing foreign objects. When the eardrum ruptures, there is temporary tearing pain and may also cause hearing loss, dizziness, and tinnitus.

(2) Sudden onset of persistent stabbing pain after an infection in bullous myringitis. Examination may reveal bloody blisters in the external auditory canal and tympanic membrane, which heal on their own within a few days.

3. Reflex ear pain

(1) Trigeminal nerve

1) Maxillary branch: When there is acute sinusitis, reflex ear pain can be caused through this branch.

2) The nerves of the mandibular branch that can cause reflex ear pain include: ① Lingual nerve. ②Inferior alveolar nerve. ③Auriculotemporal branch.