In a child, redness behind the ear can occur at any age, but especially often this happens with babies up to a year old. There are many reasons for this condition - from banal oversight and inadequate care to extremely serious diseases. Today we will try to understand the most common factors that trigger the appearance of redness behind the ear in a child, and also find out which doctor should go with this problem.
One symptom for many diseases
So, what should I do if the baby's skin turns red in the ears, there is a rash, cracks, crusts or whitish coating on it? First of all, you need to consult a doctor, especially if redness is accompanied by other disturbing symptoms - fever, soreness, swelling, or itching.
Redness behind the ear in a child can be caused by a number of pathologies:
- scrofula;
- allergies
- atopic dermatitis;
- eczema
- deprive;
- mastoiditis;
- otitis media;
- lymphadenitis, lymphadenopathy;
- tuberculosis of the skin.
However, most often the reason lies in insufficient 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 proper attention to it immediately after its appearance, a small speck can not only grow to large sizes, but also become covered with wet cracks and crusts, and over time the wound becomes infected and turns into chronic focus of inflammation in the body.
Which doctor should I contact?
When the 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 very serious, further examination is probably not needed. With mild allergies, dermatitis, or deprivation, an ordinary pediatric doctor will also help. But if the situation requires a more comprehensive study and consultation of a specialist, the pediatrician will write a referral to one of the following doctors:
- to a dermatologist;
- allergist;
- otolaryngologist;
- hematologist.
If the child has redness behind the ear, then you may need to undergo a series of laboratory tests. First of all, a general analysis of blood and urine. In some cases, ultrasound diagnostics of the behind-the-ear lymph nodes, their radiography, and also a biopsy will be required. To confirm some diseases, a smear will be needed to 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 in the baby
During lactation, the sucking process in infants is greatly underdeveloped. They do not know how to correctly capture the nipple, they often "lose" it, do not have time to swallow a lot of milk, which is why it can pour out of their mouth. Part of the food flows down the chin to the clothes, part to the neck, and a little more accumulates behind the auricle.
If the mother does not wash his ears every day while bathing the baby, in a matter of days a whitish, thick and sticky substance is formed behind them, consisting of milk, sweat and microparticles of the skin. It is an extremely fertile soil 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 the child has a red spot behind the ear, covered with a gray-white coating with a pungent smell, the problem area needs to be thoroughly washed and the skin greased with a drying cream that accelerates the healing of small wounds and cracks (Bepanten, Sudokrem, zinc ointment).
Inflammation of the lymph nodes behind the ears in children
Another 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 region of the 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 case of even the slightest malfunction with health, the lymph nodes can make themselves felt by enlargement, soreness, redness. After recovery, they again āhideā and become practically invisible. But since the work of the lymphatic system in children is very imperfect, it can react very violently not only to serious diseases like leukemia, lymphosarcoma, lymphogranulomatosis or tuberculosis, but also to the common cold and any infection.
Therefore, it is quite normal if the child has slightly enlarged lymph nodes during or immediately after the illness. However, it is precisely about increasing their size. In this case, the skin under them should remain a normal color, and the tubercles themselves should not be hard and hot to the touch. If, in the area of āāthe lymph nodes near the childās ear , there is a red spot with multiple tubercles, hyperthermia, which, after pressing, hurts and bothers the baby, you need to visit a doctor without delay. In the best case, this may be a consequence of the inflammatory process in the body. Other causes of lymphadenopathy are cancer, severe anemia, tuberculosis, syphilis, and HIV.
Scrofula in children: causes, symptoms and treatment
Scrofula is another disease during which redness is observed in the child's ears. This area itches with this ailment very much. 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 themselves worse. Affected areas extend further - to the scalp, and sometimes to the face.
There are several main reasons why children suffer from scrofula:
- inadequate hygiene;
- allergies, atopic dermatitis;
- tuberculosis.
The treatment for this disease should be comprehensive. It comes down to removing local manifestations - redness and itching, but it is necessary to influence the body in a complex way - eliminate the allergen if the scrofula appears due to an unbalanced nutrition of the child or constant contact with aggressive substances. From the kidās menu, sweets, citrus fruits, overly spicy and salty foods should be removed. It is important to wash children's clothes and bedding with hypoallergenic products, and best of all - laundry soap. Drug therapy comes down 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 moistened to prevent cracking.
What is mastoiditis?
One of the most serious diseases due to which redness appears behind the childās ear is mastoiditis. This is a very serious ailment that is difficult to diagnose. In order for the doctor to confirm this diagnosis, he will need to examine the babyās ear, do a computed tomography and radiography.
With mastoiditis, in addition to redness behind the childās ear, there is an increase in temperature, pain in the ear, pus is released from the shell, the baby feels bad, does not sleep, often cries and gets 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, the meninges, and 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 bends 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, 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 all treatment will go down the drain. By removing the 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, the treatment is carried out not only with antihistamines or corticosteroids, local antibiotics, physical procedures (exposure to ultraviolet light) and probiotics are also added to them to restore microflora.
Deprive behind a childās ear
Lichen also often causes redness of the ear in the child. The causes of skin irritation lie in the fact that a fungal infection appears on it. There are many varieties of lichen, the most common of them:
- pink;
- pityriasis;
- girdle;
- ringworm;
- 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. One or two places may be affected, but if the disease is started, then it will spread to large areas. Then outpatient treatment will be very difficult. In order to choose the tactics of action, the doctor needs to take a scraping with lichen, only after that drugs are prescribed that are effective against specific fungi, which caused the problem.
Can I treat redness near my ear on my own?
None of the diseases described above is self-medicating. Each of them has its own specificity and certain symptoms, and most importantly - the reason. Some ear pathologies need to be treated only under the supervision of a doctor, while others allow home monitoring.
In addition, in each of these cases, completely different medications are required. If the problem is exclusively external, there will be enough local drugs, but in case of systemic diseases, ointments and creams can not be dispensed with. Therefore, if the child has redness behind the ear, he must be shown to the pediatrician, who will determine the further actions of his little patient.