What are causes of severe ear burning?  My sons ears burn like fire
off and on everyday.  What treatment is available to relieve his pain
and what kind of doctor treats this kind of condition?  My son takes
54mg of Concerta everyday but over the summer we stopped it for two
and a half months and the burning still persisted, yet at a less
intense level, but same frequency.  He also uses Rogaine for his
alopeca and has been using it for seven years.  His ear burning
started three years ago.  It used to be just at night but now it
happens through out the day.  We have tried Ibuprophin, Acetaminophen,
Asprin, Antihistamines and ice packs.  None of these things help
except the ice packs do tend to numb his ears and help a bit
temporarily.  He is in otherwise in good health.  The burning ears
happen when he is resting as well when he is active and when he is
stressed as well as when he is calm. No state of being stands out more
then the others.  Please help me to help him find relief!   Thanks In
Advance.

Dear worriedmom-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. You
have, no doubt, read our disclaimer below that we cannot provide
medical advice in this forum. What you appear to be asking is for
published information about ?burning ears? and for a non-medical
opinion as to what might be the cause. I am offering this to you as my
opinion only and strongly suggest that you seek a medical opinion
before acting on anything you read here. With the necessary disclaimer
formalities out of the way, here goes:

There are a number of problems that can cause a burning sensation of
the ears. In my research it seems that this sensation is most commonly
caused by ?flushing?. When flushing occurs, the blood vessels of the
head and face dilate and allow an increase in blood flow. The question
then might be, ?What causes flushing??. Because your son suffers from
alopecia I found the likelihood that he might also be experiencing a
well-known condition called ?rosacea? particularly interesting. Many
rosacea patients complain that flushing sometimes triggers a hot or
burning sensation particularly in vascular areas like the cheeks,
nose, forehead, chin and ears.

The National Rosacea Society Expert Committee on the Classification
and Staging of Rosacea included the occurrence of rosacea in a
peripheral location as a secondary feature of the disorder. Flushing
and ear burning are symptoms that are among them.

ROSACEA.ORG
http://www.rosacea.org/rr/2005/summer/qa.html
http://www.rosacea.org/rr/2005/summer/qa.html#2

Rosacea is a chronic disorder, rather than a short-term condition, and
is often characterized by relapses and remissions. Like alopecia,
rosacea is a dermatological problem often associated with
psychosomatic triggers that commonly affects the skin of the head and
face. A dermatologist may be able to determine whether your sons
burning ears are related to rosacea. Here is a case of a patient who
had both conditions and experienced flushing similar to what you
described:

ROSACEA LYMPHOEDEMA RESPONDING TO PREDNISOLONE, METRONIDAZOLE AND
KETOTIFEN THERAPY IN A PATIENT WITH ALOPECIA UNIVERSALIS
http://www.med.gazi.edu.tr/gmj/rosa.html

People who suffer from rosacea frequently experience the problems you
described that your son is also suffering.

?It is common for moderate to severe rosacea sufferers to report
feelings of anxiety. Anxiety is often triggered by bouts of facial
flushing, burning sensations or progression of the disorder?. During
flushing episodes rosacea sufferers can physically feel the blood
rushing through their sensitive facial skin. This is often accompanied
by uncomfortable sensations of burning, or stinging.?

ROSACEA AND EMOTIONS
http://www.drnase.com/anxiety.htm

As I?m sure you already know, anxiety can also exacerbate alopecia
(which is often anecdotally linked with emotional stress) and
unfortunately the same is true in reverse.

If rosacea proves to be the problem, the outlook is fairly good in
terms of diagnosis, treatment and relief. While there are no
histological tests that can be done to detect the presence of rosacea,
a knowledgeable dermatologist can often diagnose the condition
thorough physical examination of a patient?s signs and symptoms and a
medical history, whereas a general physician might not detect it on
visual examination. During the exam you should explain any problems
your son is having with his face and ears such as redness; flushing;
the appearance of bumps or pimples; swelling; burning, itching or
stinging; or other information. The fact that anxiety or anxiety
medication are also issue may be additional points of interest for a
dermatologist.

The treatment of course depends on the kind of rosacea one has and the
stage that it is in:

?There is no permanent "cure" for rosacea, but the condition can be
controlled with treatment. All sources of local irritation should be
avoided, including sun exposure, soaps, astringents and peeling
agents. Dietary triggers of flushing, such as hot beverages, spicy
foods and alcohol, should also be avoided. Rosacea is generally
responsive to oral antibiotics, particularly the tetracycline family;
however, long-term systemic therapy is not often required. Topical
metronidazole 0.75% or 1% effectively reduces inflammatory lesions of
rosacea and also helps maintain remission induced by systemic
antibiotics. Low-dose isotretinoin at 0.1 to 0.2 mg/kg/day or
"minidose" at 2.5 to 5.0 mg/day for 4 to 6 months is also effective;
however, long-term outcome is not well studied, and the same risks and
prescribing regulations apply as described for acne patients.?
ACNE AND RELATED DISORDERS
http://www.clevelandclinicmeded.com/diseasemanagement/dermatology/acne/acne.htm


A burning sensation in the ears does not appear to be a known side
effect of the drug CONCERTA though, according to this source, high
blood pressure (hypertension) and hives are.

DRUGS.COM
?CONCERTA INFORMATION?
http://www.drugs.com/concerta.html

The reason I mention this is because a burning sensation in the ears
?is? reported to be a known symptom of hypertension, which of course
is something that your general physician can check. It is possible, I
suppose (in my non-medical opinion), that the Concerta might have
elevated your son?s blood pressure slightly and it might have
aggravated or magnified the burning sensation to some extent which
might account for why the sensation lessened in severity when he
stopped taking the drug over the summer vacation.


I don?t know if this if interest to you or even relevant to your son?s
situation but I thought I?d also include this just in case you might
be interested. I found one case in which a woman who experienced this
odd symptom as a result of mercury toxicity presumably from mercury
amalgam fillings. Once the fillings were removed she immediately began
to recover from these burning sensations and other symptoms related to
the mercury poisoning.

SYMPTOMS OF CHRONIC MERCURY POISONING
http://www.mercurypoisoned.com/symptoms.html

(Like I said, I don?t know how relevant this might be but I just
wanted to include it for good measure)

As for the rosacea issue, I suggest you take what you have read here
to a dermatologist and begin your search for relief there. Tell him or
her the symptoms and ASK THE DOCTOR TO CHECK SPECIFICALLY FOR, AND
RULE IN/OUT ROSACEA AS A POSSIBLE CAUSE FOR YOUR SON?S BURNING EARS.
Perhaps with an examination and possibly as simple as some anxiety
control and trigger avoidance your son can be well on his way to a
good night?s sleep. Keep in mind that we are not physicians here but
as my research indicates, I believe it is more than plausible and
certainly worthy of looking into.

I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



INFORMATION SOURCES

Defined above


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

Burning

Sensation 

Ears

Face

Flushing

Alopecia

Rosacea

---

Request for Answer Clarification by worriedmom-ga on 01 Oct 2005 16:48 PDT

After reading you answer, I felt no better off then before I sent my
question.  Any Google search using "burning ears" brings up Rosacea. 
I have already been to a dermotologist who said it was not that. 
Rosacea does have burning but my son does not have the swelling,
pimples,inflamed lesions, bumps or itching that occur prior to the
burning or simultaneously.  Therfore, I do not feel, given the symptom
I mentioned, that Rosacea information is really a fitting answer.  I
neglected to mention that I have been to a Dermotologist,a
Cartiologist, an ENT, a Nerologist and my son's Pediatrition regarding
this problem.  The Dermotologist ruled out Rosacea.  The ENT explained
that, yes, flushing is occuring but other then knowing that localized
dialated blood vessels allow this flushing to take place he did not
know what the cause was.    I also noted that the burning takes place
no matter what state of being my son is in, therefore, hypertension &
anxiety do not seem to logical conclusions either.  Since asking you
this question I have found a solution to this problem on my own.  I
looked up the side effects to Rogaine.  Down low on the list is
burning ears.  This makes sense to me because my son has been using
Rogaine for a very long time and it does dialate the blood vessels.  I
think that after applying Rogaine for over six years,some of the less
common side effects are starting to take place.  After stopping the
Rogaine, his ears have stopped burning.  Now all he has to do is
choose between complete baldness as a young teen or fire hot ears. 
Not an easy thing for a kid to decide.

---

Clarification of Answer by tutuzdad-ga on 01 Oct 2005 17:07 PDT

I wish you had explained in advance that you had already consulted a
Dermotologist,a Cartiologist, an ENT, a Nerologist and your son's
Pediatrition regarding this problem and that a Dermotologist had
already ruled out Rosacea. Had I known this in advance perhaps the
research might have taken another direction entirely. This of course
is what the "clarification" process is for; so we can adjust, research
further and find information pertinent to the question so that your
experience here is a positive one. Had you chosen to use the
clarification feature before rating and closing the question I would
have been delighted to research the issue further. I am glad however
that you found a solution on your own.

Best of luck;
tutuzdad-ga

I think the resercher wanted to help me but his answer was not fitting
for my question given the details I provided.

Hi there Worriedmom, I know how you feel! 
I believe that when conventional medicine has run out of ideas, there
is a place for natural therapies, particularly when you're so worried.

Too often, the wisdom of other modalities, approaches, cultures etc is
discarded on the premise of it being 'alternative' or 'wacko' or too
different. And that's a shame because there's a lot of wisdom out
there! I know that when a body is out of balance nutritionally, it
will not function properly -- and I'm not talking about vegies and
stuff! My family and I have had many health problems addressed by
either naturopathy, homeopathy, osteopathy, etc. It's all about
getting a body's systems back in balance and this can be achieved via
some excellent health care professional who are qualified to practice
as homeopaths or naturopaths.

I urge you to avoid self-diagnosis (or son-diagnosis!) and go see
someone who might give you a 'big picture' solution. Any responsible
homeopath will accommodate your son's current conventional treatments.
You can find a practitioner in the US via this site:
http://www.homeopathic.org/ or ask your friends and colleagues who
might know someone who's helped them.

Hope this helps. Best wishes, stressedmum

Hi worriedmom, I have read your original query its answer and one
comment. As mention of alopecia is there in the detailed answer
provided to you I thought I will add my experience to it. I remember
when I was a child I had a patsh on by back side of head where hair
disappeared about of a coin size. I was advised GRISOVIN tab by my
physician which was not very effective. Cleaning of the area and
keeping good huygine helped but I did not get the hairs back there at
that moment of time. Incidently when I narrated this to one of my
acquaintaince having a small shop of provisioning including some old
time herbs etc. he advised me (free of course!) a seed of some plant
(seed looks like a kidney bean) which is to be uncovered from its
shell and to be made in a paste form and applied on the infected side
(alopecia areata). This seed created some heat at that place and
within a week a dead layer of skin cells came out from the place and
lo! within a few days hair grew in that patch.
Later I was curious to find out about the seed and came to know that
it was from a well known tree and in fact these seeds were of highly
laxative in their nature, bitter in taste and created heat and burning
on skin. So it was in fact not the seed but the heat/burning it
produced which did the job.
In the local dilect the seed is known as JAMALGHOTA SEED and found in
INDIA. I am not aware if it found elsewhere also. As I do not know its
english or botanical name I may not help much in finding its
equivalent name in other places.
The above information should not be used by any person without
consulting a physician/naturopath. I am only sharing the information
and it is not to be taken as a medical advice.