Bleeding Ear

It could just be a bad ear infection and best way to treat is antibotic drops in ear, directly to infection. Since its coming out means the tubes are still working.

Hi J. - If this is the response of any doctor - get a different one. Both my kids have had tubes & one has had an additional ear surgery. Their ENT always made sure we knew what was going on. My oldest has had some bleeding in the past. Making sure you are at an ENT is key because they can clean out the ear, find the real reason for the bleeding (a zit or something else). You dont want to use drops in an ear with a tube unless an ENT as had a chance to properly examine the ear, you dont want the drops to go on the other side of the tube, again unless there is a specific reason. At the minimum call your ENT who did the surgery & talk to their nurse. Find any paperwork (including any with the medication) that the DR who your son was examined by & share this with the ENT staff. Ears are not to mess with. More than likely your son is fine but clearly change the doctor! God Bless

HI J.

My daughter has tubes... She has had this happen a couple of times. When she has the bleeding problem, it was do to a burst "pustial" type of infection (like a zit). I was told its basically a sack filled with puss and blood that when it gets at a certain point pops, and that is where the blood came from. During the course of the antibiotics she had it happen a couple of times, as there were a few in her ear.

I didnt find this out right away, we had to wait a few days for a follow up appointment so that the dr. could actually see into the ear, since it was filled with blood and puss...

Hope this is the case, as it was a pretty easy thing to deal with!!!

Did you go to your pediatrician or to the ENT who put in the tubes?

I highly recommend calling the ENT. That's his/her field of expertise. Call. Ask. and MAKE CERATIN YOU UNDERSTAND THE ANSWERS.

Hello J.,

I am sorry you have to go through this... how scary.
I would suggest that you call your doctor's office and ask that they clarify your son's condition.

That said, it is not too uncommon to have some bleeding as the ear tubes are being expelled, and the usual treatment for that is eardrops to stop the bleeding. You should definitely have a follow up visit to check on the condition of the ear and tube.
Good Luck!

That seems un normal. My son had tube in his ear and it never bleed. As for the doctor syaing he couldnt see anything casue there is too much blood would worry any mother. I would be worried, I would take your son to the place where you had the tubes put in and ask them to look at it. My son had his tube put in at Children's hospital and they told us to come back with qusetions and concerns so you might start they as they work with ears and tubes everyday. Goodluck to you and hope everything truns out well for you and your family.

Ask for a referral to a ENT or see a different doc. Part of a doctor's job is to reassure you that things are okay. This doc didn't do his job.

You don't mention what sort of drops or whether you/they set up a follow-up appt. Yes, I would be concerned and I wouldn't wait longer than 24 hours to have his ear checked again.
If you need to, request another doctor to look in his ear or have an ENT take a look. It is never usual for ears to bleed like you've described--whether they have ear tube in them on not.

I'm getting increasingly disturbed by the super low standard of medical care that seems to be trending.

At the VERY least you should have been told to come back once the drops work...and what the durn drops WERE for heavens sake (antibiotics? coagulants? eye of newt?). At best, you would have been told when to come back, what the possibilities were, various treatments, etc & so forth.

Never allow yourself to be sent away with unanswered questions. Even if the answer is "we don't know...but this is what we're going to be doing to find out" aka a plan of action. And if you get home and realize you have more questions...CALL. <grinning> I love my doctors office...if I call within 24 hours after an appointment, they ask if I want anywhere OTHER than my doc's voicemail. Rarely I do need something else...most of the time I leave a message and he gets back to me that day (or the next morning if it's late).

From a monetary perspective, we'll sit on hold for hours with the phone/electric/cable company finding out what the glitch/problem is and how to go about fixing it...or with any billing department in the world haggling over a $50 dollar charge. Even if you have insurance and only had to pay 10 dollars for that visit, I can guarantee the office bill was approximately 300 dollars. And we're talking about our HEALTH, not a stupid piece of equipment. Be just as proactive, inquisitive, and determined with medical issues as you would be in any other area of your life. It used to be when doctors were unable or unwilling to have a decent bedside manner...they lost their practice because patients had enough self esteem to go elsewhere. These days, it seems like the more a doctor remains aloof the bigger their practice gets. If they WON'T answer you (and remember, the 'we're trying to figure it out, but have no clue at the moment, IS an answer as long as they actually ARE working with you to figure out what's going on), or if they treat you like you're incapable of understanding them...drop them like a hot rock. The only reason you wouldn't be able to understand them is if they are LOUSY at explanation. ANY complicated process, from mitochondrial DNA to the immune system, can be translated into English and told in a way that a 6 year old can understand (and I know this because i've TAUGHT 6 year olds these things). If your doc doesn't think you're smarter than the average 6 year old, they've got some nerve.

Some doctors have the belief that all their patients are idiots who couldn't possible understand, much less participate, in their treatment. These are the true idiots. A doctor's position is as much one of educator as physician...or they should be in research, not practice. And an educated patient gets well one whole heckuva lot faster than one who doesn't understand what is going on.

So get yourself some answers or get a new doc. Pronto.