Sometimes when we feel itchy in our ears and scratch them, we may accidentally find something wet inside our ears – they are bleeding! What happened? Ear bleeding has many causes including injury and infection, and the treatment method depends on the cause. Ear bleeding may also come with symptoms such as earache, fever, hearing loss, facial paralysis, dizziness or tinnitus. Let’s learn more about the causes of ear bleeding:

Scratching the ears too forcefully

You may cause your ears to bleed if you scratch them too hard with your fingernail or cotton swab. This kind of injury is usually mild. Keep the wound clean to prevent infection.

Ruptured eardrum

The eardrum is a membrane that protects the middle ear from bacterial infection, and bleeding occurs when it tears. Loud noises, severe ear infections and injuries will also lead to a perforated or ruptured eardrum. A sudden change in air pressure when flying on an aeroplane or scuba diving can also cause a ruptured eardrum.

Injury

An accident or a blow to the head may cause internal bleeding and ear injury. If your ears bleed and you have suffered from head trauma lately, you should seek medical attention and help immediately.

Severe ear infection

Middle ear infection will cause pain, temporary hearing loss and ear fluid. Bleeding is a common symptom of ear infection, which can lead to a ruptured eardrum due to fluid or pus build-up in the ear. Apart from earache, ear wax will also emit a foul smell.

Foreign objects in the ear

Children who poke small items into their ears will experience bleeding and pain.

Ear cancer

Although ear cancer is very rare, it can cause bleeding, numbness and hearing loss.

If you often scratch your ears due to earwax build-up that causes them to bleed, you can seek help from an ENT specialist regularly to clean your ears. You can also buy earwax softener to clean your ears regularly and reduce the foul smell, hence preventing bleeding from cleaning too hard.