Ear infections are very common, especially in children. They often come complete with a high temperature, pain in and around the ear and nausea, leaving you feeling pretty unwell. Seeing your little one suffering with an inner or outer ear infection – or experiencing the pain of an infection yourself – can be really tough, and we know you’ll want to get the infection sorted as quickly as possible. Most ear infections should start to get better after around 3 days. Let’s find the right solution and bring you or your child relief from ear infections.
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An ear infection, otherwise known as acute otitis media, is an infection that affects the middle ear or otitis externa, an infection of the outer ear. Ear infections are very common, they can affect people of all ages but they most commonly occur in children.
Most ear infections do not require any treatment and will clear up on their own within a few days. However, for those who experience severe or recurrent infections, antibiotics are usually required to prevent long-lasting damage to the ear or ears, which can result in hearing loss.
Most symptoms of ear infections start very quickly and clear up, without treatment, within 3 - 7 days. The most common symptoms include:
An ear infection can normally be quickly diagnosed by a doctor based on the symptoms you describe and your medical history.
The doctor will usually have a look inside the ears, throat and nasal passage and take your or your child’s temperature to look for clinical signs of an infection.
For those that are regularly affected by ear infections, you are likely to be able to recognise symptoms of an ear infection as soon as it starts to develop.
For mild and transient ear infections, these do not usually require treatment and should clear up on their own within 3 - 7 days.
To manage your symptoms it is recommended that you:
For more severe infections, for example, if your symptoms do not improve after 3 days or you have a very high temperature you are likely to need antibiotics. Antibacterial solutions such as Earcalm, steroids such as Otomize Ear Spray or anti-fungal drops such as Canesten Solution can also be used to relieve symptoms of outer ear infections.
Inner ear infections are difficult to prevent as they are often triggered by cold or the flu. There are however things that can be done to try and prevent infections of the outer ear. These include:
Authored by
Scott is one of the two founders of The Independent Pharmacy. He is a registered pharmacist and the registered manager of our service with the CQC.
Reviewed by
Dan is an experienced pharmacist having spent time working in both primary and secondary care. He currently supports our clinical team by providing robust clinical governance review of our internal processes and information.
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