What are treatment pearls for the removal of ear foreign bodies?

Answer

See the list below:

Consider that an underlying illness may have prompted the patient to insert a foreign body into the ear to relieve discomfort such as pain or pruritus.^[15]
Perform a thorough head, ears, eyes, nose, and throat (HEENT) examination in all patients, since throat pain can refer to the ears.
Always examine the opposite ear and both nares for additional foreign bodies.
Always examine the external auditory canal after the removal of a foreign body to identify preexisting or iatrogenic tympanic membrane perforations or abrasions.
Acetone has been used successfully to remove chewing gum, Styrofoam, and superglue from the ear canal.^{[16, 17, 18]}
Ethyl chloride has been used to remove Styrofoam beads from the ear canal.^[19]

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Media Gallery

Equipment display.
Positioning and examining with otoscope.
Mechanical extraction with alligator forceps.
Irrigation method.
Suction method.
Foreign body removal from the ear. Courtesy of Hamid R Djalilian, MD.

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Author

Angela On-Kee Kwong, MD Attending Physician, Department of Emergency Medicine, Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Coauthor(s)

Jennifer M Provataris, MD Clinical Instructor, Attending Physician, Department of Emergency Medicine, Jacobi Medical Center and North Central Bronx Hospital

Jennifer M Provataris, MD is a member of the following medical societies: Society for Academic Emergency Medicine

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Specialty Editor Board

Mary L Windle, PharmD Adjunct Associate Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy; Editor-in-Chief, Medscape Drug Reference

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Chief Editor

Arlen D Meyers, MD, MBA Professor of Otolaryngology, Dentistry, and Engineering, University of Colorado School of Medicine

Arlen D Meyers, MD, MBA is a member of the following medical societies: American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, American Head and Neck Society

Disclosure: Serve(d) as a director, officer, partner, employee, advisor, consultant or trustee for: Cerescan;RxRevu;Cliexa;The Physicians Edge;Sync-n-Scale;mCharts<br/>Received income in an amount equal to or greater than $250 from: The Physicians Edge, Cliexa<br/> Received stock from RxRevu; Received ownership interest from Cerescan for consulting; .

Additional Contributors

Prajoy P Kadkade, MD Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Attending Physician, Department of Otolaryngology and Communicative Disorders, Director of Otolaryngology, North Shore University Hospital, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Hospital System

Prajoy P Kadkade, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy, American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, American College of Surgeons, Medical Society of the State of New York

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Dr. Melissa Harper and Dr. Linda Liu for their wonderful patience and winning attitude in participating with this chapter, as well as Dr. Jennifer Provataris, for her infinite encouragement, tireless diligence, wisdom, and creativity in producing this chapter.

Medscape Drugs & Diseases also thanks Hamid R Djalilian, MD, Associate Professor of Otolaryngology, Director of Neurotology and Skull Base Surgery, University of California Irvine Medical Center, for assistance with the video contribution to this article.

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