Eczema of the ear in children

Eczema of the ear is a common disease in children, the cause may be due to pus, allergies or metabolic dysfunction. Although not dangerous to the health and life of children, if not treated properly, ear eczema will leave infectious complications.

Eczema is an eczematous disease that affects the rim of the ear, the outer ear canal and the skin around the ear, with a variety of basic skin lesions. Eczema can occur in children of all ages, and is often classified as acute, subacute, and chronic based on clinical symptoms.

The cause as well as pathophysiology of ear eczema up to the present time has not been fully and clearly studied. Scientists think that ear eczema in children can be related to a number of factors as follows:
The cause of ear eczema in children can be pus, usually mucoid pus, frequent discharge of pus. or long-term accumulation of pus. Usually, ear eczema spreads from the ear canal to the rim of the ear. In addition, another cause of ear eczema is allergies, often the ear eczema caused by this cause will spread from the head to the neck, then down to the rim and the outer ear canal. Because children's body is sensitive to external agents, it causes ear eczema. Another hypothesis is that the disorder of the patient's mental state as well as the dysfunction of metabolism, digestive, neurological, and endocrine disorders are also likely to cause ear eczema. These cases can be treated with medication, psychotherapy to improve eczema.

Symptoms of ear eczema in children include a number of manifestations such as the skin in the outer ear area is itchy, red rash, small sized blisters, containing clear mucus inside. These blisters then break off, leaving a thin, brown scab that covers the surface of the skin. When the eczema dries up, the skin is still itchy, red, thick and lumpy, with small opaque or gray cuticles that are easy to peel off during this time.
Because ear eczema causes itching, it makes children uncomfortable, scratching a lot can easily cause scratching, which is more likely to lead to infection. Infectious eczema with the recognizable manifestation is small ulcerated pustules, inside with pus, on the surface with brown scabs, hard nature. In more dangerous cases, the inflammation can spread to nearby areas such as the skin behind the ears and temples.

Treatment of ear eczema includes topical care, use of antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, pain relievers, antihistamines and measures to strengthen the immune system and supplement necessary vitamins:
With care In situ: Parents should wash their children's ears and ear canals if there is pus at this location, apply 5% silver nitrate for children, in case of bacterial superinfection, they need to apply methylene blue, drop the medicine. Ear ingredients contain Steroids. With antibiotics, some drugs can be used such as Augmentin, Cefuroxime, Cefixime, Levofloxacin... Anti-inflammatory drugs can be steroid drugs such as Prednisolone 5mg, Methylprednisolone, Enzyme drugs such as Lysozyme. The commonly used pain reliever is Paracetamol 30-40 mg/kg/day. Antihistamines can be Chlorpheniramine, Fexofenadine, Cetirizine... Some additional drugs are B Complex C, Vitamin PP, calcium C.

Some notes when cleaning the ear area and ear canal for children with ear eczema are as follows:
Do not use water to wash, especially for children with acute ear eczema, often itchy, there are Many thick acne breaks later, with a lot of fluid, so it is easy to spread to the surrounding areas according to this secretion, so it is necessary to keep the wound dry to prevent swelling around, to prevent the risk of infection. infection. Do not use warm water and solutions containing irritants to wash the lesions caused by eczema because it will make the severity of the disease worse. Avoid exposing lesions to allergens once the allergen has been identified. The agent can be food, objects... Eczema in children is considered a very common dermatological disease in clinical practice, has many different forms and stages of the disease. When a child has abnormal skin manifestations, parents should take the child to a specialized medical center for early diagnosis and treatment.
With many years of experience in examining and treating diseases in children, now the Pediatrics Department at Vinmec International General Hospital has become one of the major health care centers, capable of examining , screening and treatment of many specialized diseases in children. Therefore, if the child shows signs of bacterial ear eczema, parents can take the child to Vinmec International General Hospital for examination and receive support and advice from doctors and health professionals.