Recurring Preauricular Pit/Discharge

[mummyto2joys]

My son is 5 yrs old and has had 3 operations on a preauricular pit.  His last operation was when he was 1.5 yrs old.  Now 5 and the scar, which never healed properly and had post-op infections resistant to antibiotics has now started discharging small amounts of pus and irritating him, going red and hurting him when I massage the area to try and get any discharge out.

Discharge is coming from the original pit site as well as the 2 tiny holes left by the stitches from the operations, discharge can vary from quite solidified and white to runny with some colour to it.

We are now booked in for a 4th and final operation (hopefully) this time the paeditrician will remove the underlying cartilage and use methylene blue (not sure if this will work considering the pit has been operated on already).  I suppose I want an ENT opinion or other persons experience.  Will this 4th op work considering cartilage is being removed, what else can we do?  This is a very traumatic issue for us and so very terribly painful to my son.  I live in Australia and hope this site can provide some info to me, I just don't know where else to go for assistance.

[DawnPB2010]

My daughter is 2 1/2 and has two. The ENT explained that these are developed in the womb and  should have been  the ears, but were not  propoerly formed so the body "abandoed"  it and created new ones. the pits can have long tracks  up ad down the jaw. if they are long then  the cause problems . If small they do not.

[Charlie1608]

I completely agree with jclyde I'm 18 and mine has never been a problem or painful and is certainly not something to be self conscious about. I'm proud of my ear pit :)

[chita111]

hey everyone i'm 18 andi was born with three of these pits....i have one on each top of the ear, and one near my left eye...i wish i had a picture to show you guys but i'll try to upload one later...but yea there is nothing wrong, i kinda like to show people lol makes me feel special, but no one in my family has it, on both sides no one has not even one.  So with me is it just something that happened or was it something in my past past family members???? just let me know i will check, and does anyone else have one near the eye????

[BEE571]

YES!!!  U should go to the ENT and have that puss removed it can continue to build . Unfortunetly the operation was not a success , it is said that its very rare a operation is a success . My son is now most likely going in for his fourth surgery, he has them on both ears as do I and my older brother and his daughter so as you can see I have had alot of experience with this stuff. My son is 6 and this will be his 4th in less than a year, I thought he had a good doctor but now not so sure and going to look for second opinion and doctor, I dont think hes is going to do it again . You can go back to the doc that worked on your child he will help you . You are going to probably go for another cause they didnt get it all out yet . If it is coming out you can use a hot compress to loosen up the puss and then gently touch the area and alot should come out at least to temporarly ease the pain of your child, my mother did it for me and I do it for my son except since his surgerys there are no more holes to drain so it makes me worried. Good luck to you and yours.....I will post outcome of my child in the attempt to help other concerning parents.....

[missyab1979]

My daughter is 14 months old and had a pit on her left ear that we have removed 2 months ago. At first is healed great except the the "dissolvable" stitches didn't dissolve all the way. One kinda pokes  out of the skin a little. Then yesterday it looked swollen and white under the skin. This morning it was worse. I pushed on the area a little bit to see if anything would come out, and there was a bunch of puss and a little blood. Is this something I need to be worried about? Should I take her to the ER?

Thanks,
Melissa

[carrieqa]

I agree with you Jclyde. I am 35 years old and have ear pits on both ears. The one on my left ear is the active one especially when I was growing up. Once in a while it would feel itchy (not painful) and would release a yellowish fluid that's got bad odour. When I was a teenager I was a bit embarassed about it but as you grow older - it doesn't matter much at all. Luckily I noticed they have been less irritated (itchy) and when they do - I just extract what I could with the use of alcohol (to disinfect and to mask the odor)
The right ear pit is inactive. Does not get eachy but since it is a whole, once in a while I would mildy press on it and white discharge which is not fould smelling would come out.

When I gave birth to my daughter 4 yrs ago (she had one ear pit) the first thing I checked was if she had one. Luckily its just one and not two. Also hers was the inactive one. Praying it does not get infected or anything.

I never thought ear pits would be a problem. I have had two cousins, an aunt who has got these, and I never heard of them getting infected to consider surgery.