
Chewing Nicotine Gum. Having Pain, Itching In Ear And Found Swollen Node. Is This An Infection?

Thank you for your query.
1. Get your ear examined for any wax build-up or infection (especially fungal) and rule out any foreign body in the external ear canal. If the ear drum is visualized, kindly attach the clinical observation notes.
2. The small lump in front of the ear is most likely to be a lymph node. Sub-centimeter lymph nodes may be ignored. You may get a sonography (USG) done to identify the tissue if in doubt. Other possibilities are parotid salivary gland enlargement, pre-auricular cysts, TemporoMandibular Joint (TNJ) problems (history of chewing gum over long periods of time) and so on.
3. Normal ear wax has smell because the ear wax glands are modified sweat glands.
I hope I have answered your query. If you have any follow up queries, I will be available to answer them.
Regards.

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