Publication:

A child’s mysterious ear

Foreign body in ear is an emergency encountered by an otolaryngologist and if not removed it can lead to serious complications. Most commonly foreign body in ear is lodged in external auditory canal while it’s rare to find it in middle ear. We report a case of foreign body in the middle ear in a 3-year-old child who presented to us with chronic discharging ear who was then suspected to be unsafe ear and so was taken up for exploration under microscope. A pink polypoidal mass arising from middle ear mucosa was found and following its removal- to our surprise; a blackish rubbery debris filling the middle ear cavity and attic area along with embedded foreign body was extracted. We conclude that pediatric patients with chronic ear discharge not responding to antibiotics should raise a suspicion of FB in the middle ear and explored timely.