Ear infections are especially common in children, but you can get them at any age. In most cases, ear infections can cause temporary hearing loss, since they clog up your hearing canal, or harm your middle or inner ear.
However, chronic ear infection is more dangerous than that. This type of ear infection could cause major damage to your hearing, and the effects can be permanent.
Chronic Ear Infection: A Problem That Just Won’t Go Away
In short, chronic ear infection is a type of ear infection that doesn’t heal.
Chronic ear infections can be milder than the usual (acute) kind of ear infection. You will probably experience a constant pressure in your ears and mild pain as well. Your ears may start producing too muchfluid discharge. Low fever is another common symptom.
Even though it may feel like nothing more than an inconvenience, a chronic ear infection can damage your hearing in several ways:
- It can damage the bones in your middle ear.
- Additionally, it may permanently damage your inner ear.
- It can also tear a hole through your eardrum or harden the tissue in your ears.
To prevent these problems, you should make sure your regular ear infection doesn’t turn chronic. If you feel like your infection has gone on for too long, seek out a medical professional.
How Can You Treat It?
First, your doctor will put you on antibiotics. This is usually an effective way to deal with chronic infection, but it doesn’t work every time. Surgery may be an option as well.
To lessen the damage caused by hearing loss, your doctors might want to insert an ear tube. Ear tubes can drain your ear of the excess fluids created by infection. Thus, they lower the pressure that can damage your sensitive hearing organs.
Since chronic ear infection could cause major damage to your hearing, you should definitely treat it as soon as possible.
