My ear feels full and clogged. Kindly help.

Question

Hi doctor,

How can I differentiate between a cerumen impaction and an ear infection? What are the typical signs of an ear infection and cerumen impaction? I have a feeling of fullness in the ear, muffled hearing, and the ear feels clogged. Kindly help me.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Cerumen impaction is a tight accumulation of wax in the external auditory canal. Clinical features include: 1) Pain in the ear. 2) Hard of hearing. 3) Pressure in the ear with or without episodes of dizziness. 4) Ringing sensation in the ear. An ear infection is inflammation of the different ear segments due to a causative organism such as fungi or bacteria. Clinical features include: 1) Pain in the affected ear. 2) Ear discharge 3) Decreased hearing which can fluctuate with the discharge. 4) Heaviness or fullness in the ear. 5) Fever. Suppose there feeling of fullness with clogged and muffled hearing is mostly due to ear wax accumulation. If there is no wax, the most common cause of the above symptoms is due to eustachian tube catarrh, which can occur secondary to inflammation in the nose and has to be treated adequately. I hope this answers your query. If there is anything more that you need to know or enquire, kindly do let us know, and we will revert back as soon as possible.