In summer, the ears suffer from a lot of pain. Among the most common causes of ear pain are as follows:
- Infections of the external ear with bacterial origin: this represents the most important reason behind severe ear pain. These infections often occur after the ear gets wounded as a result of excessive cleaning or due to bad practices, such as using sharp tools for cleaning their ears.
- Boil (abscess) in the external ear: another common cause of ear pain. It is a bacterial infection in the streptococcus of the hair follicles that lies in the outer part of the ear canal. It is a common disease, especially in the summer.
- Fungal infection of the external ear: fungi can also attack the ear canal. This attack might only be limited to the surface layer of the skin lining the external ear canal. However, it might also reach under the surface layer which would provoke the sensitive nerves in this part. Thus, the person suffers from pain and an overwhelming need to scratch. Ear moisture can easily cause fungal infections of the ear, which is why the disease spreads in summer.
- Foreign bodies in the ear: they may enter the ear canal, especially children’s. Those bodies may be solid or soft, or even insects.
- Central ear infections: this part of the ear is the most vulnerable to microbial infections because it leads to the throat through a passageway called the auditory canal. Therefore, any infection in this part affects the throat, larynx and sinuses. It can also move up to the middle ear.
- Inner ear infections: these infections occur after the arrival of the bacteria through the bloodstream or directly from the middle ear. These infections can occur to all ages, and to men and women equally. Since the inner ear is related to balance and hearing, these two functions are influenced to varying degrees depending on the type and severity of inflammation. The inner ear infections lead to a variety of symptoms, including sudden dizziness, hearing problems, or even hearing loss, balance disorder, and tinnitus.
Now, there are two issues left; the first issue is that the ear pain itself is of low risk if it is figured out in a timely manner by consulting a specialist. The second issue is that ear pain may be reflexive, which means that it arises from areas located in the head or the neck, with which it shares the same sensory nerves such as the sinuses, nose, nasopharynx, gums, teeth, mandible, tonsils, trachea and oesophagus.
