Diseases and Conditions: Diseases Symptoms, Treatment, Signs ...

Ear Infection Resource Center

8 million+ Physician Ratings & Reviews

Find Doctors and Dentists Near You

The location you tried did not return a result. Please enter a valid 5-digit Zip Code.

Search

Search

You can also search by physician, practice, or hospital name

Ear Infection Treatments Directory

Ear infection treatment mainly seeks to relieve symptoms such as pain and fever. If the ear infection is viral, the only thing doctors can usually do is help to alleviate symptoms. Antibiotics are used if the infection is bacterial. Ear tubes are sometimes used for severe or recurrent ear infections. Follow the links below to find WebMD's comprehensive coverage about how ear infections are treated, the goals of treatment, and much more.

Medical Reference Video Slideshows & Images Quizzes News Archive View All

The Subtle Signs On Your EARS That Could Reveal Your Risk Of Heart Disease And Cancer

Ears provide hearing and balance but people should also be aware that they can also reveal a lot about their health with signs such as a crease in the earlobe and itchiness to look out for

Ears can reveal a lot about people's health (

Image: Getty Images)

People are being advised how ears can reveal a lot about people's general health and are not just there for hearing.

The main function of ears is for hearing and balance but they are also affected when someone is unwell and even the shape can give an insight into their health. Anyone who has had an ear infection is aware of how sensitive they are with a feeling of being bunged up, dizziness or having tinnitus - the buzzing noise in the ear.

And surprisingly the health of ears can also warn of serious illnesses including heart disease and cancer which means many people should pay a lot closer attention to them. But advice from the NHS is not to try cleaning ears as that could actually cause more problems.

It states: "Your ears are self cleaning. The skin in your ears acts like a conveyor belt. It travels along your ear canal from your ear drum bringing any debris with it. Sometimes this 'conveyor belt' motion does not work very effectively, so you need to have your ears cleaned out by the practice nurse at your GP surgery or by the aural care service.

"If you use cotton buds or anything else to clean your ears. You can disrupt the ears' natural cleaning system. Often the only thing this achieves is to push the wax further down the ear canal, making you feel deaf temporarily and causing damage to your ear canal or your ear drum."

Here are a list of six health conditions that people can discover from their ears.

Heart disease

If you're under 60 years old and have a diagonal crease across the earlobe, it could mean you're at greater risk of coronary artery disease (CAD), which can cause heart attacks, according to some studies. The diagonal wrinkle, also known as 'Frank's sign', has been seen in the likes of Steven Spielberg and George W Bush.

But it's important to know that it is not a sure indicator as to someone has the disease. One theory suggests that an ear lobe crease is linked to the loss of elastin and elastic fibres in the skin - the same process that damages blood vessels in CAD. Other, more common symptoms of heart disease are chest pain, shortness of breath, pain throughout the body, feeling faint or feeling sick. The best thing to do is contact your GP if you are worried about any symptoms.

High blood pressure

Ringing in the ears or tinnitus could be caused by many reasons and it includes high blood pressure. Often it is not due to anything serious and could be simply due to listening to loud music but at the same time people should be aware that tinnitus is often reported by people who suffer from high blood pressure.

In fact research published by NCBI found that 44% of people with tinnitus also had hypertension. When pressure builds up in the ears it can lead to the ringing or buzzing sound of tinnitus. Another condition liked to ringing in the ears is Meniere's disease, which is a rare inner ear condition that can affect balance and hearing.

Fungal infection

If someone has itchy ears then this could be due to a fungal infection like aspergillus or candida which grow and spread in the ear canals. Other symptoms of aspergillus can be yellow or black dots or white patches and for candida it may lead to a thick and creamy white discharge from the ear. Generally people with these fungal infections can have earache, flaky skin around the ear canal and possibly headaches or tinnitus.

Breast cancer

While having earwax is normal there are certain textures that should be looked out for. Typical yellow wax in the ear can even be beneficial to an extent as it prevents bugs and dirt from getting inside but if it is wet and sticky then people should take note. Research suggests that this could be the sign of a mutation on the ABCC11 gene which increases the chance of developing breast cancer.

A study found that Japanese women with wet earwax had a higher relative risk of developing breast cancer than those with dry earwax. However, it doesn't necessarily mean that if you have breast cancer you will develop this symptom, or that you have breast cancer if you already have it. Whether you have 'wet' or 'dry' earwax depends on. Your genetic makeup. Wet earwax is more common in people of African or European descent, while dry is more common in people with Asian background.

Kidney disease

If you have any skin tags, or small, fleshy growths, on your ear, you might not think anything of it, but it turns out it could be linked to problems with your kidneys. According to a study by the British Medical Journal, this is especially true in the case of newborn babies.

Doctors might use this as a reason to run kidney health tests on your newborn - but if you've recently noticed any that haven't been checked, it's worth reaching out. According to the NHS, skin tags are usually harmless, but you should see a GP if it gets bigger, becomes painful, starts bleeding - or you develop lots of them.

Red ears syndrome

A reddening and burning of the ear's skin could be due to too much exposure to the sun or a rare condition called red ear syndrome. It is unclear what is the cause of red ear syndrome but it appears to be associated with migraines. Sometimes it lasts for a few seconds but can continue for several hours and appears to be brought on by factors such as rubbing the ears and hot or cold conditions.

---