Q: I had fever with vomiting some 20 days back. The next morning I had severe earache in my right ear and on consultig an ENT doctor I was told that my ear drum is bulged and in the evening there was pus discharge from the right ear. Antibiotics and nasal drops were started and everything became fine. However, again the same thing got repeated after a week with right ear discharge. On advice from another ENT doctor we got done audiometery and tympanometry. The result of audiometry is that both my ears hearing is within normal limits. The report on tympanometry reads as- both ears b type tympanogram very low copliance of tm with abnormal m.e.p reflexes are absent. Indicative of o.m.e, what does this indicate? Presently ear seems to be alright and medicines like antibiotics is over and nasal drop is being continued. Are any more tests required so as to avoid recurrence?

A:The diagnosis seems to be an acute infection of the middle ear called acute otitis media. The antibiotics should be taken for at least 7-10 days to getrid of the infection completely, along with nasal decongestants andanti-histamines. Reasons for recurrence of ear discharge are eitherincomplete antibiotic course or the hole in the eardrum has not healed andmaybe some water has gone in.You need to keep the ear dry with cotton rolled in vaseline used to plugthe ear when bathing. You need to consult the ENT doctor again after a fewweeks to find out whether the hole/perforation has healed.