I have woken with an extremely swollen earlobe, which is very hot and red. I felt warm dampness through the night but was not awake enough to realise and thought I was just sweating possibly. I suffered inner ear infections on the other ear for years and just recently had surgery to repair the ear drum - it does not feel like I have an ear infection. But the lobe is very achy, stingy, hot and red. What could have happened during the night to cause this? There were no symptoms before I went to bed and no triggers like newly washed pillows for it to be a topical rash