Redness behind the ear in a child: description of symptoms, causes, possible diseases, consultation of doctors and ways to solve the problem

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

In a child, redness behind the ear can occur at any age, but this happens especially often with babies under one year old. There are many reasons for this condition - from banal oversight and insufficient care to extremely serious diseases. Today we will try to understand the most common factors that provoke the appearance of redness behind the ear in a child, and also find out which doctor you need to go to with this problem.

One symptom for many diseases

So, what to do if the baby's skin in the area of the ears turns red, has a rash, cracks, crusts or a whitish coating on it? First of all, you need to consult a doctor, especially if the redness is accompanied by other disturbing symptoms - fever, soreness, swelling or itching.

Redness behind the ear in a child can be caused nearbypathologies:

• scrofulous;
• allergic;
• atopic dermatitis;
• eczema;
• deprive;
• mastoiditis;
• otitis media;
• lymphadenitis, lymphadenopathy;
• skin tuberculosis.

However, most often the reason lies in the lack of skin hygiene in the ears. To a greater extent this applies to infants. In a child, redness behind the ear is sometimes an ordinary diaper rash. But this does not mean that such a problem does not require treatment, on the contrary, if you do not pay due attention to it immediately after it appears, a small speck can not only grow to a large size, but also become covered with weeping cracks and crusts, and over time, the wound becomes infected and turns into a chronic focus of inflammation in the body.

Which doctor should I contact?

When a child sees redness and blisters behind the ear, parents need to show it to the pediatrician or family doctor. If the cause of this problem is not too serious, then further testing is probably not needed. With mild manifestations of allergies, dermatitis or lichen, an ordinary children's doctor will also help. But if the situation requires a more comprehensive study and consultation of a narrow specialist, the pediatrician will write a referral to one of the following doctors:

• dermatologist;
• allergist;
• otolaryngologist;
• hematologist.

If your child has redness behind the ear, some lab tests may be needed. First of all, a general analysis of blood and urine. ATin some cases, ultrasound diagnostics of the behind-the-ear lymph nodes, their radiography, as well as a biopsy will be required. To confirm some diseases, you will need a smear, which will help determine which of the microorganisms provokes the disease. These can be pneumococci, streptococci, staphylococcus and some other irritants.

Redness and plaque behind the ear of the baby

During the period of lactation, the process of sucking in infants is greatly underdeveloped. They do not know how to properly grasp the nipple, often “lose” it, do not have time to swallow a lot of milk, which can cause it to spill out of their mouth. Some of the food flows down the chin onto the clothes, some onto the neck, and a little more accumulates behind the auricle.

If a mother does not wash her ears every day while bathing a baby, in a matter of days a whitish thick and sticky substance will form behind them, consisting of milk, sweat and skin microparticles. It is an extremely fertile ground for the development of various bacteria and microorganisms. In cases where the child is not washed thoroughly enough or does not look into all the folds and holes, for example, behind the ears, diaper rash begins to form.

If a child has a red spot behind the ear, covered with a gray-white coating with a pungent odor, the problem area should be thoroughly washed, and the skin should be lubricated with a drying cream that accelerates the healing of small wounds and cracks ("Bepanthen", "Sudokrem", zinc ointment).

Inflammation of the lymph nodes behind the ears in children

Othera common cause of redness behind the ears in babies is inflammation of the lymph nodes. There are a lot of them on the body - on the back of the head, in the area of \u200b\u200bthe lower jaw, under the armpits, in the groin and near the ears. These points are responsible for the production of lymph, a substance that helps the body fight various infections. In the event of even the slightest he alth failure, the lymph nodes can make themselves felt by increasing, soreness, and redness. After recovery, they again "hide" and become almost invisible. But since the work of the lymphatic system in children is very imperfect, it can react very violently not only to serious diseases such as leukemia, lymphosarcoma, lymphogranulomatosis or tuberculosis, but also to the common cold and any infection.

Therefore, it is quite normal if a child has slightly enlarged lymph nodes during or immediately after illness. However, we are talking about increasing their size. At the same time, the skin under them should remain of a normal color, and the tubercles themselves should not be hard and hot to the touch. If, in the region of the lymph nodes near the ear, the child has a red spot with multiple tubercles, hyperthermia, which, after pressure, hurts and worries the baby, you need to visit a doctor without delay. At best, this may be a consequence of the inflammatory process in the body. Other causes of lymphadenopathy are cancer, severe anemia, tuberculosis, syphilis, HIV.

Scrofula in children: causes, symptoms and treatment

Scrofula is another disease during which there isthe child has redness behind the ears. This area itches with such an ailment very strongly. In the initial stages, diaper rash appears behind the auricles, which after a while become covered with yellowish crusts. The wounds are very itchy, and children often scratch them, which makes them even worse. The affected areas spread further - to the scalp, and sometimes to the face.

There are several main reasons children get scrofula:

• poor hygiene;
• allergy, atopic dermatitis;
• tuberculosis.

The treatment of this disease should be comprehensive. It comes down to removing local manifestations - redness and itching, but it is imperative to act on the body in a complex way - to eliminate the allergen if scrofula appears due to an unbalanced diet of the child or constant contact with aggressive substances. Sweets, citrus fruits, overly spicy and s alty foods should be removed from the baby's menu. It is important to wash children's clothes and bedding with hypoallergenic products, and best of all with laundry soap. Drug therapy is reduced to the use of special ointments and creams. While the wounds are wet, they need to be dried with zinc-containing preparations, and the skin, on the contrary, will have to be moisturized to prevent cracking.

What is mastoiditis?

One of the most serious diseases that causes redness behind the ear in a child is mastoiditis. This is a very serious disease that is difficult to diagnose. Tothe doctor confirmed this diagnosis, he will need to examine the baby's ear, do a CT scan and X-ray.

With mastoiditis, in addition to redness behind the child's ear, there is a fever, pain in the ear, pus is released from the sink, the baby does not feel well, does not sleep, often cries and is irritated. The cause of this condition is the appearance of acute infectious inflammation in the middle ear, which is caused by gram-positive bacteria (streptococcus, pneumococcus, staphylococcus, etc.). If you do not start treatment of mastoiditis in time, the inflammation will spread to the mastoid process, then to the inner ear, meninges, in some cases, the facial nerve is affected.

Allergies and rashes behind the ears

Allergic rashes in children, as a rule, appear in places with the most vulnerable areas of the epidermis - in the folds, on the folds of the arms and legs, on the face, on the buttocks. The auricle also often becomes one of these areas. During an exacerbation of allergies or atopic dermatitis, the mother should pay special attention to the skin behind the ears - carefully and carefully remove dirt from it, treat it with special creams and ointments. But first you need to minimize the effect of the allergen, otherwise the whole treatment will go down the drain. By removing external manifestations in the form of redness, rashes and itching, the problem cannot be solved, over time it will reappear.

Sometimes an infection joins an allergic reaction. In this case, treatment is carried out not only with the help of antihistamines orcorticosteroids, they also add local antibiotics, physical procedures (ultraviolet exposure) and probiotics - to restore microflora.

Lichen behind the ear of a child

Lichen also often causes redness in the child's ear. The causes of skin irritation lie in the fact that a fungal infection appears on it. There are many types of lichen, the most common being:

• pink;
• pityriasis;
• girdle;
• shearing;
• red flat.

As a rule, all these ailments affect most of the skin, there are foci of inflammation throughout the body, they are not localized in any particular place. The only exceptions are pink and ringworm. There may be one or two places affected, but if the disease is started, it will spread to large areas. Then outpatient treatment will be very difficult. In order to choose a tactic of action, the doctor needs to take a scraping from lichen, only after that drugs are prescribed that are effective against specific fungi that caused the problem.

Is it possible to treat redness near the ear on my own?

None of the diseases described above can be self-treated. Each of them has its own specifics and certain symptoms, and most importantly, the cause. Some ear pathologies need to be treated only under the supervision of a doctor, while others allow home observation.

In addition, in each of these cases, completely different medicines are required. If the problem is purely external, that's enough.topical preparations, but in case of systemic diseases, ointments and creams will not do. Therefore, if a child has redness behind the ear, it must be shown to the pediatrician, who will determine the further actions of his little patient.