The goals for treating ear infections include relieving pain, curing the infection, preventing complications, and preventing recurrent ear infections. Most ear infections will safely clear up on their own without antibiotics. Often, treating the pain and allowing the body time to heal itself is all that is needed:

• Apply a warm cloth or warm water bottle.
• Use over-the-counter pain relief drops for ears.
• Take over-the counter medications for pain or fever, like ibuprofen or acetaminophen. DO NOT give aspirin to children.
• Use prescription ear drops to relieve pain.

ANTIBIOTICS

Some ear infections require antibiotics to clear the infection and to prevent them from becoming worse. This is more likely if the child is under age 2, has a fever, is acting sick (beyond just the ear), or is not improving over 24 to 48 hours.

However, for several years there was a tendency to over-prescribe antibiotics, leading to the increasing numbers of bacteria that are resistant to these drugs. Joint guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians are aimed at using antibiotics for ear infections when they are most needed. If the antibiotics do not seem to be working within 48 to 72 hours, contact your doctor to consider switching to a stronger antibiotic. Usually there is no benefit to more than two, or at the most three, rounds of appropriate antibiotics.

SURGERY

If there is fluid in the middle ear and the condition persists, even with antibiotic treatment, a healthcare provider may recommend myringotomy (surgical opening of the eardrum) to relieve pressure and allow drainage of the fluid. This may or may not involve the insertion of tympanostomy tubes (often referred to as ear tubes). In this procedure, a tiny tube is inserted into the eardrum, keeping open a small hole that allows air to get in so fluids can drain more easily down the eustachian tube. Tympanostomy tube insertion is done under general anesthesia. Usually the tubes fall out by themselves. Those that don't may be removed in your doctor's office.

If the adenoids are enlarged, surgical removal may be considered, especially if you have chronic, recurrent ear infections.Removing tonsils does not seem to help with ear infections.

Ear infections are curable with treatment but may recur. They are not life threatening but may be quite painful.

Generally, an ear infection is a simple, non-serious condition without complications. Most children will have minor, temporary hearing loss during and right after an ear infection. This is due to fluid lingering in the ear.

Although this fluid can go unnoticed, any fluid that lasts longer than 8-12 weeks is cause for concern. In children, hearing problems may cause speech to develop slowly. Permanent hearing loss is extremely rare, but the risk increases if the child has a lot of ear infections.

Other potential complications from otitis media include:

• Ruptured or perforated eardrum
• Chronic, recurrent ear infections
• Enlarged adenoids or tonsils
• Mastoiditis (an infection of the bones around the skull)
• Meningitis (an infection of the brain)
• Formation of an abscess or a cyst (called cholesteatoma) from chronic, recurrent ear infections
• Speech or language delay in a child who suffers lasting hearing loss from multiple, recurrent ear infections

Call your child's doctor if:

• Pain, fever, or irritability do not improve within 24 to 48 hours
• At the start, the child seems sicker than just an ear infection
• Your child has a high fever or severe pain
• Severe pain suddenly stops hurting -- this may indicate a ruptured eardrum
• Symptoms worsen
• New symptoms appear, especially severe headache, dizziness, swelling around the ear, or twitching of the face muscles

For a child under 6 months, let the doctor know right away if the child has a fever, even if no other symptoms are present.

Noble J, ed. Textbook of Primary Care Medicine. 3^rd Ed. St. Louis, MO: Mosby; 2001.

Gershon, AA, Hotez, PJ, and Katz, SL, eds. Krugman’s Infectious Diseases of Children. 11^th ed. St. Louis, MO: Mosby; 2004.

Long, SS, Pickering, LK, and Prober, CG, eds. Principles and Practice of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. 2^nd Ed. New York, NY: Churchill Livingstone, 2003.