Health Resources

Ear Discharge or Drainage

Symptom Definition

• Drainage of substances with varied colors and consistency from the ear canal.
• Normal discharge: earwax or water. Earwax is light brown, dark brown, or orange brown in color.
• Main cause of abnormal discharge: an ear infection with drainage of cloudy fluid or pus through a ruptured eardrum or through a ventilation tube.

See More Appropriate Topic

• If follows ear injury, see EAR TRAUMA 
• If began while doing lots of swimming, see EAR, SWIMMERS 

Call Your Doctor Now (night or day) If

• Your child looks or acts very sick
• Pink or red swelling behind the ear
• Clear or bloody fluid following head injury
• Bleeding from the ear canal
• Fever > 104^oF (40^oC)

Call Your Doctor Within 24 Hours (between 9 and 4) If

• You think your child needs to be seen
• Ear pain or unexplained crying
• Discharge is yellow or green, cloudy white or foul-smelling (pus)
• Clear drainage (not from a head injury) persists > 24 hours

Call Your Doctor During Weekday Office Hours If

• You have other questions or concerns

Parent Care at Home

• Probably normal earwax or water and you don’t think your child needs to be seen

Home Care Advice for Ear Discharges

1. Earwax: Ear wax protects the lining of the ear canal and has germ-killing properties. If the earwax is removed, the ear canals become itchy.
   • Call back if: begins to look like pus (yellow or green discharge).
2. Clear Discharge (without head trauma): It's probably tears or water that entered the ear canal during a bath, shower, swimming or water fight.
   • Don't overlook eardrops your child or someone else used without telling you.
   • In children with ventilation tubes, some clear or slightly cloudy fluid can come from a temporary tube blockage that opens up and drains.
   • Call back if: Clear drainage persists > 24 hours or recurs.
3. Suspected Ear Infection: Give acetaminophen or ibuprofen for pain relief until the office visit. (See EARACHE for details)

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