Otitis is a term which refers to ear swelling.
The External Otitis is the infection of external ear skin. This is more often in summer, related to swimming pools, ear dermatitis or wounds due to scratching or manipulation of the ear. These infections cause pain, usually severe, plugging of the ear and sometimes oozing from the ear and hearing loss. When the infection is caused by fungi the most common symptoms are itching and plugging the ear..
The Otitis Media Aguda is a middle ear infection which usually occurs following a common cold and is especially seen in children up to 6 years old, due to frequent infections adenoids. These infections have sometimes a discharge from the ear through a perforated eardrum that usually closes spontaneously.
They are also frequent Mucosal Otitis that are especially relevant in children, as it can go unnoticed and be responsible for a hearing loss and recurrent acute otitis media. In these cases the presence of adenoid hypertrophy and / or tonsillar also requires treatment.
The Chronic Otitis Media is a middle ear inflamation that persists for more than 3 months. Most are sequelae of other ear processes, like perforations of the ear drum, calcifications, bone injuries,… Others are due to cholesteatoma, a benign disease that damages the bony structures of the ear. These otitis cause problems of repetitive suppuration of the ear with hearing loss and the treatment consists of avoiding infections, although they often require surgical treatment.