55-year-old Aunt Wang recently always feels that the inside of the ear is extremely itchy, whether it is to pluck the ear or rub the ear can not be effectively relieved, by this itch tormented by Aunt Wang accompanied by her family to the Second People's Hospital of Hunan Province (Hunan Provincial Brain Hospital) entolaryngology outpatient clinic, after careful examination by doctors, diagnosed as fungal otitis externa.
Fungal otitis externa is a common ear disease, but many people do not understand or ignore its symptoms and delay treatment, so let's take a look at the relevant knowledge points of fungal otitis externa.
Fungi are pathogens that cause fungal otitis externa, it is widely present in nature, easy to multiply in places with high temperature and humidity, and cause acute or chronic inflammation of the external auditory canal after large reproduction, and common pathogenic fungi include Penicillium, Aspergillus and Candida.
Under what circumstances are you more susceptible to infection?
1. Normal people's external auditory canal is in a slightly acidic environment, if the long-term use of antibiotic drugs such as ear drops or water in the ear will change the PH value of the ear canal, increase humidity, and create favorable conditions for the reproduction of fungi.
2. Incorrect ear digging methods (such as frequent ear digging, unhygienic ear mining tools, multiple people sharing the same tool, etc.) cause cross infection.
3. Various chronic diseases, decreased body immunity, or long-term application of antibiotics and glucocorticoids throughout the body provide conditions for the breeding of fungi.
4. Ear canal trauma and frequent ear digging cause local skin damage to the external auditory canal, and skin trauma to the external auditory canal causes the local resistance to decrease, and the effect on fungal inhibition is reduced, causing abnormal fungal reproduction.
What are the corresponding clinical symptoms of fungal infections of the external auditory canal?
1. The external ear canal is itchy, and even affects night sleep, and can't help but frequently pluck the ear, which can seriously lead to the skin of the ear canal to rupture and swelling.
2. Ear endocrine increases, there is a sense of moisture, secretions block the ear canal to produce a feeling of stuffiness in the ear, which can affect hearing.
3. The skin of the ear canal caused by frequent ear pulling is ruptured and swollen, and there will be local pain when the bacterial infection is combined, and when the eardrum is invaded, there will be hearing loss, tinnitus and even dizziness.
How can I prevent fungal infections in the ear?
1. Fungi like to be warm and wet, so keep the ear canal dry, reduce ear washing, wash your hair and bath and try to clean up the water in the ear canal after bathing and swimming, so as to keep the ear canal dry and clean.
2. Those who have the habit of ear removal should change the inappropriate way of ear removal: use a clean and clean ear removal tool to avoid repeated use of the same ear removal tool by multiple people to prevent cross-infection.
3. Patients with chronic purulent otitis media need to be actively treated to keep the ear canal dry and clean.
4. Avoid long-term use of broad-spectrum antibiotics and glucocorticoid drugs.
How is external ear fungus treated?
1. First of all, it is necessary to do a good job in the psychological construction of continuous treatment. Fungal otitis externa is prone to recurrent attacks, and many patients have repeated or even worsening conditions due to the inability to adhere to treatment for a long time.
2. Topical drug treatment: after cleaning up the fungus of the external auditory canal, local antifungal drugs can be applied. The dosage form of antifungal drugs can be selected as watery or creamy drugs. Antifungal drugs are easy to use and the distribution of the drug is satisfactory, while patients who use the paste can cause the drug to be applied to the deep and external auditory canals due to factors such as curvature or narrowing of the external auditory canal.
3. When the local authorities apply external drugs can not achieve the desired effect, they can be taken orally, such as itraconazole, fluconazole, etc.
Contributed by: Ding Xiaofang, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Second People's Hospital of Hunan Province (Hunan Brain Hospital).
Editor: Liu Yuchen
Image: From the Internet, intrusion and deletion