I often pick my ears with an ear picker, and after many years, I actually have cancer of the external auditory canal? Otolaryngology experts remind that ear canal cancer induced by repeated epithelial stimulation is rare, but it does exist, and experts remind people that the ear canal should be cleaned in moderation and avoid long-term repeated stimulation of the ear canal with sharp and hard instruments.
March 3 is the National Ear Care Day, and Zhujiang Hospital held a free clinic in the outpatient hall on March 2 to provide hearing screening, deafness diagnosis services, popularize the knowledge of hearing impairment prevention and treatment, and some free ear endoscopy, deafness genetic testing and other benefits.
March 3 is the National Love Ear Day, and Zhujiang Hospital held a free clinic in the outpatient hall on March 2.
Excessive ear plucking in men induces cancer of the external auditory canal
At the free clinic, Zhang Hongzheng, director of the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Center of Zhujiang Hospital, shared a case he had diagnosed and treated not long ago.
Mr. Zhou, who is over fifty years old, likes to pick up the ear pick and pick his ears casually, and he is uncomfortable not digging for a day. This habit lasted for almost 10 years, until recently, he developed left ear pain and ear pus.
Mr. Zhou had just found that his ears were uncomfortable, and Mr. Zhou bought ear drops and oral antibiotics by himself, but the symptoms did not improve, but there was blood in the pus.
Mr. Zhou was found to have a reddish lump in his left external auditory canal, combined with his long-term ear picking habit, Director Zhang Hongzheng suspected that it was likely to be external auditory canal cancer, and immediately conducted a pathological examination of the external auditory canal mass, and the results confirmed that Mr. Zhou was suffering from a rare "squamous cell carcinoma of the left external auditory canal".
Fortunately, after surgical resection and chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Mr. Zhou recovered well.
Zhang Hongzheng explained that this is a long-term ear plucking that stimulates the epidermis of the external auditory canal, causing ** exudation, a vicious circle that causes new organisms to grow in the ear canal, and induces cancer of the external auditory canal.
According to reports, external auditory canal cancer is a rare malignant tumor, accounting for about 0% of head and neck tumors2%, with an overall incidence of about 11 million people, is a rare disease that is easily missed and often locally advanced when diagnosed.
Ear canal cancer is more common in 40-60 years old**, and is associated with a variety of high-risk factors such as repeated epithelial stimulation, ionizing radiation, genetic factors, etc., habitual ear picking, long-term chronic purulent otitis media and otitis externa all have the risk of inducing external auditory canal cancer.
The clinical manifestations of external auditory canal cancer are atypical, and it is easy to be misdiagnosed as otitis externa or otitis media in the early stage, and the main clinical manifestations are ear pus, ear pain, hearing loss, tinnitus, ear stuffiness, dizziness, etc.
Zhang Hongzheng, director of the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Center of Zhujiang Hospital, examined the free patients.
Improper ear plucking accounts for 15%-20% of otology outpatient clinics
How to clean my ears to be healthy? Zhang Hongzheng introduced that when cerumen in the ear blocks the ear canal and causes hearing loss, it is necessary to clean up, but a small amount of dry cerumen in the ear canal can be automatically discharged during oral exercise, and there is no need to clean it repeatedly, "too much cleaning will operate the natural barrier of the ear canal, and repeated stimulation may also lead to eczema, otitis externa, secondary fungal infection, etc."
Zhang Hongzheng introduced that in the otology outpatient clinic, the proportion of otitis externa, ear eczema and other diseases caused by improper "ear picking", rough movements, too sharp instruments, and lack of attention to disinfection is quite high, accounting for more than 15% to 20%. In Guangdong, there are far more mycoses of the external auditory canal in humid summers or in the middle of the southern days than in winter.
For young people, there is almost no need to clean up, unless it is oily cerumen clumps, causing ear stuffiness and hearing loss", Zhang Hongzheng said, if you really want to clean the ear canal at home, you can assist good lighting, with round and blunt soft, non-damaging instruments, to deal with it gently, "If you find that the blockage is more serious, when it is difficult to clean up, do not force it out, you should go to the hospital for treatment."
If you want to clean up the water in the ear canal after bathing or swimming, you can use one-foot jumping and vibration to drain the water, or you can use a disinfectant cotton swab of the appropriate size to absorb the water in the ear canal, "Be careful not to poke it into the ear canal, which will push cerumen or secretions to the surface of the eardrum."
In addition, Zhang Hongzheng reminded that young people should also be vigilant about ear piercing, ear piercing can only be hit at the earlobe position, and some ear piercings in the pinna are easy to cause infection, resulting in perichondritis, making the ears deformed and scarring, "We have seen many such examples, and it is not recommended to pierce the ear in the cartilage part of the auricle."
Written by: Nandu reporter Li Wen, correspondent Shu Fan, Wu Xiaodan, Han Yurou.