You put what...where???

As September approaches, most of our children have returned to school to begin another year of learning and fun.  Younger children tend to have a lot of arts and crafts time and are fascinated with all of the beads, beans, pompoms and foam shapes with which they get to play and craft.  Children, for some reason, also have a fascination with placing these things in their ears and nose.

Frequently, objects in the ear will not be noticed until either the child says they put something in their ear, or until they are being seen by their pediatrician for a well-child or sick visit.  While objects like beads and erasers and so forth don’t interact with the ear much to cause significant inflammation; other items, like vegetable matter (popcorn kernels, beans), can cause a significant amount of inflammation and swelling.  This could result in pain, swelling, and drainage from the ear.  Further problems including ear drum perforation or hearing loss can result. 

Objects in the nose are more often easier to detect.  This is likely secondary to the nature of the lining of the nose being able to produce mucus.  When a foreign body is placed in the nose, there is usually an inflammatory response which results in excessive mucus production and may actually be diagnosed as sinusitis.  Failure to recognize a foreign body in the nose may result in scarring, bleeding, and potentially, if the object is large enough, an injury to the septum, or cartilage in the middle of the nose.

The treatment for a foreign body in the ear or nose seems simple: just take it out.  In reality these can be some of our most challenging cases.  For objects in the ear, particularly ones that can swell, they can enlarge enough to get stuck on the bone of the ear canal and become unable to be removed in their entirety.  For objects in the nose, they can be stuck between the turbinate and the septum and be quite far back and difficult to see.  It is about 3 inches from the tip of the nose to the back of the nose so there is a lot of room for things to hide. 

Your ear, nose and throat doctor can use a variety of tools to help remove these objects.  Frequently, microscopes, endoscopes, specialized suctions and forceps have to be used.  This can require a high level of expertise and experience to be successful and prevent injuries to surrounding structures.  Most of the time, though, we are able to get these objects out in the office without a trip to the operating room.

So, keep a foreign body in mind if your child unexpectedly starts complaining of ear pain or having drainage from just one side of the nose.  Get your child evaluated and visit an ENT specialist to help solve your problem.  Finally, encourage your children to not put things in their ears and noses!