In this article you will learn everything about the possible causes of a bleeding ear, which complications can accompany it and how to treat the bleeding in the ear depending on the cause. If you have further questions on this topic, you can get consultation at the Amplifon centre nearest to you. If you also notice hearing loss, you can have your hearing tested without obligation.
If blood comes out of the ear, this is not a conventional ear discharge such as a weeping ear. A bleeding ear can, but does not have to be associated with pain. It can occur when a crust of blood comes off in the ear, then sudden ear bleeding occurs where some blood may also flow out of the ear canal. Oftentimes, there is also blood in the earwax when the crust of blood mixes with it. It can be startling when blood comes out of the ear and there is a feeling of pressure occuring at the same time. The ears are particularly sensitive to pressure because the skin in the ear canal is thin, well supplied with blood and tender.
A bloody ear can look particularly bad, just like you see it in the movies. However, the latter cases are rare and linked to recognizable external events. Extremely severe pain occurs when the eardrum is injured. This can be triggered, for example, by a blow to the ear, a head injury, a bang trauma or an explosion trauma.
If a cotton swab penetrates too deeply into the ear when cleaning your ears, it can already lead to a small injury with blood. It is due to the fact that the thin skin deep in the ear canal is heavily stressed after frequent use of cotton swabs. It lies directly on the bone with no cartilage or layers of tissue in between. Thus, it is hardly yielding or stretchable.
Small tears in the skin quickly form, which can bleed profusely due to the good blood circulation in the ears and only heal very slowly, since the thin skin regenerates very slowly due to the non-existent tissue layer under the skin. It is therefore important to remove the earwax carefully and only at the ear outlet so that the skin is not damaged. Learn all there is to know about how to clean your ears properly with the help of our hearing aid specialists and ENT doctors to prevent ear bleeding.
If you see blood in a child's ear, the cause may be an otitis media. Children often touch their ears. Other indications are severe exhaustion and fever in children.
The blood then comes from small injuries on the eardrum, which causes small, bloody, suppurating blisters. The wound secretion and pus then drain through these small openings, which means that the pain and discomfort abruptly subside.
A doctor should be consulted in the following cases:
The doctor treating you will take the ear bleeding as a serious symptom and then draw up a detailed anamnesis. First, family and personal pre-existing conditions are queried, as well as other currently acute symptoms. In the case of severe ear bleeding, questions are also asked about the effects of violence from an accident or from third parties.
Next, the ear canal is examined with an otoscope. Inflammation or a damaged eardrum can thus already be detected. However, if the ear bleeds are caused by an accident, a CT scan of the skull is performed to diagnose possible skull fractures.
Are you experiencing a decrease in your hearing ability or would like to get advice on your overall hearing health? Take a free hearing test in one of our Amplifon clinics with one of our hearing specialists.
