Inflammation of the middle ear is a type of otitis media that can even affect two ears. To prevent the formation of such a disease and its prevention, you can try to blow your ears.
What is otitis media
Otitis media is an inflammatory ailment of the middle ear. With such a disease, inflammation appears in the ear cavity, pus accumulates. This disease can be encountered at any age, but most often it is seen in children. In babies, repeated otitis media is detected due to the anatomical specificity of the structure of the middle ear: the tube (auditory) in children is shorter than in adults, it is almost flat and it has no bends. This structure of the ear in a child simplifies the penetration of infection into the ear cavity. During the first 3 years of life, about 80% of children suffer from otitis media once.
Why blow your ears
Cleaning the auditory tube is the introduction into the middle ear of a stream of air under its pressure for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. The event is advised to be done in the treatment of the effects of strong, chronic inflammation of the middle ear and after tympanoplasty.
Valsalva Purge Method
This method of self-cleaning is considered the simplest. With this technique, the patient must blow the ear through the nose, pinching it with his fingers, and with tension begin to blow out the air penetrating through the nasopharynx into the auditory tube. The negative sides of this method are:
- the likelihood of rupture of the eardrum, if a large effort is made;
- casting infection and secretion from the sinus into the middle ear;
- it is allowed to blow out only one ear;
- inability to measure the volume of incoming air;
- Do not pour medications into the Eustachian tube.
The modified way of Politzer
When treating a patient with exudative otitis media, cleaning by means of a rubber tube and olive connected to the container is carried out with the aim of producing air pressure to open the passage of the auditory tube, as well as to remove the exudate collected in the tympanic cavity.
How to properly blow your ears with this method? To make a purge, you must first perform a clean anemization of the pharyngeal opening of the ear and mucous wall of the nasopharynx. To do this, when inhaling, a 3% mixture of ephedrine chloride (1 ml) mixed with 0.1% adrenaline solution (1 drop) is sprayed into the nose. Such an event is done several times without stopping with an interval of 3-5 minutes. If there is no atomizer, then cotton wool well soaked with the indicated mixture of ephedrine can be wound on the nasal probe, and ears can be purged with this technique.
Now the probe should be inserted into the sinus of the nose (instead of the "sore" tube) until it stops in the back of the pharynx. Then you need to pull it back a little, lay the patientās head on the inflamed ear, so that an anemic solution flows from the fleece into the tube. After a few minutes, the probe can be removed and proceed to the second moment of the cleaning procedure. The patientās head is turned on the other side, tilting it forward, and then turned on the healthy side so that the sore ear is on top and the tube is perpendicular, and exudate can flow down from the tympanic cavity through the auditory tube. And now, probably, many already understand how to blow out ears with otitis media.
The air introduced into the tympanic sinus, increasing intrathymal pressure, pushes out its flexible part, which, thanks to its elasticity, takes its initial position, displacing the exudate accumulated near the opening of the auditory tube. In certain situations, such a cleaning is enough to achieve the desired result. However, it happens that the patency of the auditory tube is fully resumed, but the exudate during the period of malaise got such a sticky consistency that it cannot be evacuated naturally. Sometimes, to get rid of it, you need to blow your ears repeatedly.
Young children often resist using the Politzer method. In this case, the baby is laid on his back to fix his position. Then the tip of the vessel is placed in one nostril, and the other is covered with a finger. The child must open his mouth to pour a teaspoon of water there at that time. At the time of the swallowing process, air is blown in. If there is a valve-like closure of the passage of the auditory tube or an adenoid tissue will adhere directly to it, then cleaning will not work.
The disadvantages of this method
And then the question arises - can I blow my ears? Yes, however, when the main factor of the disease is a stable dysfunction of the auditory tube, it is rather difficult to hope for good results only with organ cleansing. In the majority of children with exudative otitis media, critical intrathymal pressure was observed as a result of the tympanometry method. After purging the ear with a Politzer balloon, the pressure in the tympanic sinus usually improved, but after 15-20 minutes it returned to its initial level.
With a long and persistent retraction of the eardrum, if adhesive manifestations occur (including repeated changes in the contracted muscles of the middle ear), cleaning is ineffective. And besides, it may happen that it will hurt to blow your ears.
Event usefulness
Even if we consider the result of ear cleaning with a constant otitis media as a temporary course, then still this procedure can be positive due to its massage effect. With each purge, the tympanic membrane changes its location, as a result of which the contracted muscle tendon that stretches the membrane is unbent, and the auditory ossicles in the joints are weakened. But all this is of importance for the prevention of adhesive processes in the tympanic sinus, as well as bone ankylosis.
Need to know
It should be understood that purging the ears is required with extreme caution, without using excessive air pressure, so that the membrane of the cochlea window and the eardrum do not burst. There is a possibility of such deterioration, indicating the possibility of breaking the chain of auditory ossicles. These complications can begin with ear cleansing during the Valsalva method, when the air pressure in the auditory tube can be quite high.
There is another type of metered blowing ears. It is recommended to perform such self-blowing in a relatively gentle way: pinch your nose with your fingers and, swelling your cheeks, make swallowing movement. This effect is more persistent than with the simple Valsalva method.
Ear cleaning with massage
How to blow your ears at home? You can also use pneumatic massage of the tympanic membrane, which is done manually, massaging the tragus, which tightly closes the entrance to the auditory opening. For this, you can also use a Siegel funnel or a separate pneumatic massager, which produces air pressure in the auditory lumen and thereby contributes to the bones and the eardrum.
Many patients notice that their health is better as a result of finger massaging the tragus. It is important that during this measure (and when you need to blow your ears too), the patient's head tilts towards a healthy ear. Due to the correct compression of the air, the eardrum, pressing inward, pushes the next portion of exudate that accumulates at the tympanic passage of the auditory tube to the exit.
Using a catheter
This method is good in that it is possible to clean only one ear and inject a medication into the auditory tube. A steel ear catheter of the required size (they differ in numbering) after preparatory anemization of the nasal cavity and slight local anesthesia of the mucous membrane of the wall of the nasal passage is carefully placed in the inner nasal passage and its curved beak is inserted into the opening of the Eustachian tube. And now you can understand how to properly blow your ears.
With the help of Politzerās capacity, as well as an otoscope, which connects the patientās ear with the doctorās organ, an obvious sound of air is heard through the auditory tube. As a result of this procedure, the desired medicinal substance is introduced into the deepened distal section of the catheter, and the agent is blown along with air with a Politzer vessel. This entire cleaning process is controlled through the otoscope.
Diagnosis of otitis media
The diagnosis of such a disease is usually done by an otolaryngologist. If the patient has any suspicious symptoms, you should immediately consult a specialist, and he will tell you how to blow your ears at home. It should also be noted that the recognition of otitis media in babies is complicated due to the limited oral contact of the doctor with the child.
Contraindication
Ear cleaning is harmful if there are acute inflammatory processes in the nasopharynx and nose due to the likelihood of airborne infections entering the tympanic sinus, as well as the formation of purulent and acute otitis media.
Complications and prognosis
The following deterioration is likely if the disease was inadequate therapy, or it was not brought to the end:
- brain abscess
- mastoiditis (inflammation of the mastoid process), where surgery is needed;
- meningitis.
The prognosis for the correct and appropriate treatment of otitis media is positive. But itās better to always try to take care of yourself, avoiding cool and windy places, so as not to ask questions later - can a doctor blow his ear, and then he will have to turn for help.