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What Causes Red Swollen Painful Sores Behind My Ear?
I'm 15 years old and have been gauging/stretching my ear lobes (which is going from a simple piercing to enlarging your piercing to you choice of stretching sizes) I tried to stretch one of my ears last night but it wasn't ready for me to gauge up a size so I put the one I had in it before- back in the lobe. This morning I woke up and my lymph node or something was really swollen, it has been all day! The lobe is 2x the size it should be, and it is like a reddish/purple color. It also looks like I have red sores behind my ear (Like under the lobe and all the way down to the jaw) It hurts so much, plus I stuck a Q-Tip in my ear and pulled out little globs of clear looking thick liquid. PLEASE HELP I'm in so much pain :( and I don't have money to go to the ER.
Fri, 24 Nov 2017
Hello and Welcome to ‘Ask A Doctor’ service.
I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.
As per your query, you have symptoms of red swollen painful sores behind your ear. Well, there can be many reasons for lump behind the ear.
In your case, it seems to me that the it is mastoiditis. It could be due to otitis externa, localize infection, allergy or wax buildup. Sometimes, you develop an ear infection and don’t get treatment, you may develop a more serious infection of the ear called mastoiditis.
This infection develops in the bony protrusion behind the ear, which is called the mastoid. Keep your ear dry, cover your ear during bathing and do not prick ear with sharp object. I would suggest you to consult an ENT specialist without any delay.
Doctor may order CT scan, MRI or blood test to confirm the diagnosis and rule out conditions like lipoma and lymphadenopathy. Doctor may prescribe antibiotics orally or administer it intravenously.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Regards,
Dr. Harry Maheshwari
I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.
As per your query, you have symptoms of red swollen painful sores behind your ear. Well, there can be many reasons for lump behind the ear.
In your case, it seems to me that the it is mastoiditis. It could be due to otitis externa, localize infection, allergy or wax buildup. Sometimes, you develop an ear infection and don’t get treatment, you may develop a more serious infection of the ear called mastoiditis.
This infection develops in the bony protrusion behind the ear, which is called the mastoid. Keep your ear dry, cover your ear during bathing and do not prick ear with sharp object. I would suggest you to consult an ENT specialist without any delay.
Doctor may order CT scan, MRI or blood test to confirm the diagnosis and rule out conditions like lipoma and lymphadenopathy. Doctor may prescribe antibiotics orally or administer it intravenously.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Regards,
Dr. Harry Maheshwari
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