IS IT SOUND ADVICE TO USE EAR DROPS?
Daniel Radcliffe suffered a series of ear infections while filimg the fourth Potter movie
By Dr Rosemary Leonard
Q I have an ear infection that won’t go away.
My doctor has prescribed drops containing prednisolone but I’m worried about possible side effects. Can I ask for an alternative treatment?
A Drops containing prednisolone are usually used for treating otitis externa, which is inflammation of the ear canal.
Symptoms can include itching, soreness and discharge and occasionally dulled hearing. The problem usually starts with the skin of the canal being irritated by chemicals found in hair products, chlorinated water or seawater.
The inflamed skin can then easily become infected, especially if you scratch or poke anything into your ear. A vicious circle then develops as the infection causes more inflammation, which is irritating so you scratch more and so on.
Treatment usually involves using drops that contain an antibiotic to clear the infection together with a steroid to reduce the inflammation. There are several different types available containing different combinations of antibiotics and steroids. It is usually a case of trial and error to find one that works.
Though steroids taken by mouth can cause side effects, only a tiny amount is in ear drops and hardly any is absorbed into the bloodstream – certainly not enough to cause harmful effects in the rest of the body.
Make sure you use the drops properly – lie down with your head on one side and put the drops into the uppermost ear and stay still for two minutes.
Then press the cartilage at the front of the ear a few times to push the drops deep inside the canal. It will also be helpful if you try to keep your ear canals dry by placing a small piece of cotton wool coated in Vaseline into your ear when you shower or wash your hair.
Wear a tightly fitting cap or special silicone rubber earplugs when you go swimming. You should also cover your ears if you spray anything on to your hair.
Try to avoid scratching at your ear with your fingers or the corner of a towel and never clean inside your ears with cotton buds or hairgrips.
This only makes any irritation worse and pushes the ear wax or dirt deeper into the ear. The ear naturally cleans itself and all you should ever need to do is gently clear away any wax that has worked its way out to the entrance of the ear canal.
* If you have a health question for Dr Rosemary, please write to her, in confidence, at The Northern & Shell Building,
10 Lower Thames Street, London EC3R 6EN, or e-mail health@express.co.uk Dr Rosemary’s reply will appear in this column.
She regrets that she cannot enter into personal correspondence and that, due to the volume of letters, she cannot reply to everyone.
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