EAR DISCHARGE

The medical  term  for an ear discharge  is otorrhoea. An ear may discharge wax, blood, pus, serum  (the pale
yellow liquid part of blood without the cells) or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF - the fluid that surrounds and supports the
brain).
The most common substance to be discharged is wax, and if a patient has a fever, the higher temperature may

melt the wax in the ear canal, allowing it to flow out more easily than normal.
If  there  is a  foreign body  in  the ear canal (eg. a small  toy, nut,  insect),  the  irritation may cause pain, bleeding,
dermatitis (and a watery discharge of serum) and infection with pus formation.
Otitis externa (swimmer's ear) is a bacterial or fungal (tropical ear) infection of the ear canal. The ear becomes
very painful, and as the infection progresses, a smelly discharge usually develops.  
Middle  ear  infections  (otitis media)  are  a  very  common  cause  of  temporary  deafness  in  children  that  if  left
untreated, may progress to a permanent partial loss of hearing. The ear is painful, the child is feverish, and when a
doctor examines  the ear, a red bulging eardrum can be seen.  If  the drum bursts, pus will discharge  from  the ear,
but the pain will diminish.
Other causes  include a  furuncle  (a boil  in  the ear), weeping dermatitis or eczema  in  the ear canal, a  severe
head  injury  in  which  the  skull  around  the  ear  is  fractured  (some  of  the  cerebrospinal  fluid  that  surrounds  and
supports the brain may leak into the ear canal) and rarely, tumours or cancers in the ear canal will discharge and
bleed.