Ear Pain and Blocked Ear: 5 Worrying Reasons

Do you suffer from ear pain and blocked ear problems? Suffering from a painful ear and blocked ear are common problems which can really affect your health and well-being. At our ENT clinics in Singapore, our top ENT specialists in Singapore see many patients with such ear problems. Sometimes, ear pain and blocked ear are symptoms which arise from the back of the nose where the Eustachian pressure tube sits, so nose and sinus infections may also be the cause.

Here are the top 5 reasons to suffer ear pain and blocked ear problems:

1. Impacted earwax
2. Ear infection (outer ear skin)
3. Ear infection (eardrum)
4. Sinus/nose infection
5. Eustachian pressure tube problems

The most common reason to suffer ear pain and blocked ear is of course impacted earwax. The ear is supposed to be a self-cleaning organ, by which the skin lining the ear canal is designed to migrate outwards. So just like a mini-conveyor belt, as the skin cells move slowly outwards, they carry the wax out of the ear. So there is no reason to clean or dig your ears yourself. Earwax is not “dirty” at all! In fact, earwax contains some natural oils to protect your ear canal skin. Unfortunately, for some people who tend to have narrow ear canals or produce more wax than usual, they might have to see their ENT specialist in Singapore to have their ears gently and safely cleaned out through a special process called micro-suctioning, using a microscope.

Ear infections (outer ear skin) can be rather painful and may even lead to headaches if left untreated. Outer ear skin infections can be due to bacterial ear infectionf but may also be caused by fungal infections, as fungal spores thrive in our warm humid weather in Singapore. Many people also like to dig their ears so this can also introduce infection into the ear, especially when the ear canal skin becomes injured or scratched. Outer ear infections should be treated by having the ear gently cleaned and the right type of eardrops applied inside. Sometimes, antifungal ointment may be needed to be applied directly inside the ear by the Singapore ENT specialist seeing you.

Ear infections (eardrum) can be even more painful, associated sometimes with fever and malaise, and sometimes ear discharge which can be smelly and quite troublesome. This may happen as the infected eardrum swells up and then ruptures, releasing the infected fluid which was trapped behind the eardrum. A course of the right oral antibiotics is definitely needed to help your ear feel better.

Ear pain may also originate from sinus/nose infections i.e. acute sinusitis may lead to a buildup of infected purulent discharge behind the nose, which may then drain into the ear via the pressure tube. The ear then becomes infected through this route from the nose and in turn may cause an eardrum infection as previously described. Again, strong antibiotics are needed with nasal medications and sinus saline rinses to help get over the sinus infection. If it fails to improve, a CT sinus scan may be arranged with the possible role of endoscopic sinus surgery to clear the trapped infected secretions within the sinuses.

Eustachian pressure tube problems or Eustachian tube dysfunction can give rise to persistent blocked ear, crackling or popping noises in the ear, feeling of pressure discomfort with earache. These may have been triggered by an initial sinus infection which got better with medications but the Eustachian tube may still have been left with some residual inflammation, even after the nose and sinuses have all cleared up. It is very important for your best ENT specialist in Singapore to check the back of your nose (postnasal space) with an endoscope (“scope”) camera to make sure the Eustachian tube symptoms are due to obstruction by a tumour (nasopharyngeal cancer, NPC) growing at the back of your nose.

If nasal decongestants, antihistamines or antibiotics don’t relieve the blocked ear feeling caused by Eustachian tube dysfunction, then sometimes, the option of balloon dilation of the Eustachian tube and/or the insertion of a tiny ventilation tube (grommet) may be helpful.

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