Oozing patch behind ear

[kmamma]

my 6 month-old has recently recovered from the flu and resulting ear infection. i did BM and garlic-mullein oil in the ear. it seemed to clear up, however there is still a little bit of discharge from one ear. also, behind the ear lobe, in the crease, there is a patch that is oozing (pus i take it). i have no idea what this is. dh said maybe fungus? we've recently started cleaning with witch hazel and washing with bm, but it's not better, a little worse actually. the patch has started to grow, so it looks a little bulgy, but is still very small. there seems to be no discomfort to ds. i'm prett sure it's skin-deep only and not an ind. of mastoid being infected. maybe while he was having the ear infection, a lot fluid collected there and fungus may have started growing. also, i didn't wash/bathe him for a couple of weeks so as to keep his ears dry.
it seems this would heal more quickly if i was able to keep it dry, but it's impossible since it's in a tight spot.
any ideas?

[kmamma]

bumping.

[dachshundqueen]

Crusty Oozy

William has an off and on crusty oozy patch behind his ears. We just gave up and put neosporin on it when it pops up and voila, 10-12 hours later major reduction in ickyness, gone in 24 hours.
Liz

[hippiemom]

I second the neosporin, great stuff sometimes.. if after a couple of days with that it does not improve, or gets worse, I'd have it checked.

[Demeter9]

An enlarged lymph node? Sometimes if the lymph system in an area gets too backed up, a lymph node like the ones behind the ears will tunnel through to the surface and drain.

Is the area rashy? If it is, it probably isn't an enlarged lymph node.

Otherwise, if it is you can add using Castor Oil and mullein and lobelia topically from the lymph nodes behind the ears down along the neck and onto the back and upper chest. You can gentle massage it in the same order, as that is the path that the lymph takes.

[kmamma]

yes, i guess it's sort of rashy. hard to say/tell. the patch is exactly in the crease causing the ear to glue together with the skin behind the ear because of the discharge.
oh, and it doesn't seem like anything enlarged, so probably not a lymph issue.

i put some garlic-mullein oil on the patch last night and this morning it's better. much less oozing. so i think i'll keep that up and see if it clears completely.

thanks for the feedback.

[Gitti]

I would cover it with raw honey several times a day.

It could be impetigo?

Sorry I ddn't read the other posts. Maybe someone else mentioned honey already?

[Jane]

For people in my family - it's not getting all the soap off in the bath/too much soap. There are plenty of us that only do shampoo once a week b/c of the bleedy ear thing.

Sounds like you might have found something that works, though.

[kmamma]

what bleedy ear thing? never heard of that.
i haven't done shampoo yet with my baby, just rinse with water. soap only on his bottom. but as i said earlier, i haven't washed his head since he got sick a month or so ago.
i'll have to look up impetigo, not sure what it is.

[dandilion44]

could it be eczema? my son's started with one oozing patch behind the knee and eventually spread...

[WC_hapamama]

It might be eczema... behind the ear is a pretty classic place for eczema to pop up. My eldest son and daughter both get eczema in that spot frequently.

[kmamma]

So what do I do then? I suspect there's a dairy problem. I need to cut it out, I know. I think it's a major problem for me too (see my other post about swollen tonsil).
I don't want it to be eczema....

Could there be a conenction between the slight discharge from that ear and the patch behind it?

[Jane]

In my family, if you don't wash all the soap off your head, you get a bleedy ear thing in the crack behind your ear. If you aren't using soap, this is NOT your issue. I think it's awesome that you're just using water - it's a nice welcome to the world, in my opinion, to hold off on the smelly soaps as long as possible.

Hold on with the googling impetigo or excema. The most Likely thing is that there is a little bit of skin irritation b/c it stayed moist. I think everyone has that experience of finding the cheesy, gross skin fold sometime. Behind the ears, in the armpits, in the belly button, etc. Milk has a tendency to pool there. Or water after a bath, or sweat after a nap. It's okay.

Don't cut the milk. Don't change your diet yet. Let this heal...then freak out if neccesary.

[NatrlCatholicMama]

Two of my sons have had cracked, ooziness in the crease behind the ears when they were older infants or toddlers. It went away in both with time. We never used soap and almost never bathed them unless they were visibly dirty or smelly (very rare at that age).

They're the same two that have sugar cravings and carb addiction & I wonder if they have yeast overgrowth contributing to this. Now I'm wondering if the cracked ear was a sign of that yeast issue. I took lots of antibiotics while bf'ing them (for UTIs).

[kmamma]

Thanks both of you. I don't think it's eczema. It's still getting better, so I'm hopeful and not freaking out anymore.
I am cutting dairy though, because of his spitting up and my congestion.

[Nisa76]

I just found this thread during a google search for my daughters cracked skin in the folds of her ears. Sometimes it gets oozey. Wanted to share this info with you in case you were still wondering:
Eczema- moist; on rough dry skin with scabby eruptions; alternating with internal affections; on face, around mouth, nose and wings of nostrils, chin, on the corners of eyes and mouth crack and ooze a gluey honey-like discharge, and are thick, tenacious and very itchy; of eyelids- eruption is moist and fissured (split), lids red and margins covered with scales or crusts; of ears with moist eruptions that ooze thick honey-like fluid behind ears, cracks; on scalp, with sore scabs, hair is dry and falls out; of hands, bends of joints, between fingers.

[kjbrown92]

Dairy is also a common cause of ear infections, so an even better reason to drop it.