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Child Having Dried Blood In Ear After Cleaning It With Q-tip. Possible Cause?
On friday I cleaned my 3yr old sons ear with a q-tip, I used just the tip, and he started screaming. Every day since then he has had dried blood in his ear each morning, which we have cleaned out.. Tonight we checked again to see if everything was ok. And there was so much dried blood we couldn t see down inside of his ear. I am going to try to make dr. Appt in the morning (we just moved so we don t have a doctor.) Do you know what could be causing all of the blood? He seems to be able to hear just fine, so I was thinking maybe its just a scratch but, there s so much dried blood, I don t know.
posted on
Thu, 14 Mar 2013
Medically reviewed by
Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team
Wed, 20 Mar 2013
Answered on
Thu, 21 Mar 2013
Last reviewed on
Hi, thanks for using healthcare magic
It is likely that he sustained trauma to the ear with the q tip, it may have just injured to the external ear or possibly the ear drum though the later may be associated with decreased hearing.If the ear drum is ruptured, it will heal spontaneously, this may take up to 2 months.
It is best not to place any foreign objects ,including q tips, in the ear. If he has an issue with accumulation of wax then you can use an over the counter agent in the ear to soften it or a few warm drops of olive or mineral oil.Once the wax is softened, it will come come and can then be removed without any ear trauma.
I hope this helps
It is likely that he sustained trauma to the ear with the q tip, it may have just injured to the external ear or possibly the ear drum though the later may be associated with decreased hearing.If the ear drum is ruptured, it will heal spontaneously, this may take up to 2 months.
It is best not to place any foreign objects ,including q tips, in the ear. If he has an issue with accumulation of wax then you can use an over the counter agent in the ear to soften it or a few warm drops of olive or mineral oil.Once the wax is softened, it will come come and can then be removed without any ear trauma.
I hope this helps
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