can preauricle pit become smaller/disappear

[suurlemoen]

Dear ENTMD

Once again, thank you for your support. I have started the process with booking an appointment with GP who should hopefully do a referral to appropriate ENT. I am wondering whether I should expect a 'brush-off' regarding my concerns since no-one made mention of the pits.

I just want to know if it can happen that these pits shrink away/become very small - i.e. end up being only small little 'scars' in itself, without any annoying symptoms?  As you probably know it can be very dangerous coming to conclusions based only on internet-searches... I also thought that obviously should there be people with trouble-less ear pits, they are unlikely to post on the internet?

sincerely

[suurlemoen]

My daughter now 17 months was seen now for second time by ENT, 2nd time with a peadiatric ENT; He says it is 50/50 whether to operate or not, you can operate at any time, whether there has been infections or not.....He said 50 % of professionals would say do it and 50% would say, leave it (till later?)

So what do I do.?

if I do it do i do it on both ears as only the left has some discharge?

[suurlemoen]

Sorry, my previous post is addressed to you!

Thank you

[suurlemoen]

Thank you . Most of the time, if you are lucky and dont have anything really bad, you want a kind ear. and acknowledgement, especially when something is not your 'run-of-the-mill' kind of thing.

I was actually wondering about this site and thought, well:  pretty much every single soul on the face of the planet, at some point have an ENT related issue - albeit mostly quickly resolved ie childhood itis, throat, hearing etc etc.. Yet before my own child, Ive never heard of or knew about the 'pit'.  Yet, there has been several posts about these pits comparatively - ie in proportion, where they say maybe in in 12 500 people may have the condition, of which only some have symptoms Id say  at least 1 in a 100 of these posts have been about it (am I maybe about right??) - which shows, that you really want to avoid the problems related to it and know how to act promptly and correctly....

I actually wrote a letter to the GP last night, not sure whether I should send it...causing a motion again, but the irony is, she referred me herself to the medical sight  - Medscape.  (which I actually found myself before seeing her), and in the one paper they actually say about the controversy about some arguing about removing the asymptomatic pits, as it becomes harder... I put this in the letter, as well as your initial response to me.... The funny thing is, later its not about the actual issue anymore but how you are treated....

Anyway....the bottomline is, my child is very sound and healty at the moment and I certainly pray that no surgery is ever necessary and that the ENT will put me at ease.   As you say, at least I got the referral and we'll leave it till then...

Sincerely Thanking your

[ENTMD]

Well that is certainly very disappointing news.

Your GP was wrong to treat your concerns in that way -- especially since she herself appeared not to know much about the issue!!  I suspect that perhaps you exposed some of her insecurities about her knowledge base and that prompted her to react in that way...who knows.  She was also wrong to imply that your interest in educating yourself was somehow wrong.  Heck, if she won't do it, what choice do you have?!

At least you got the referral.  Again, the ENT may simply end up offering you reassurance -- a rational explanation (finally?) -- and not much more.  But at least having someone who knows what they are doing look at it is a very simple request.

Thanks for the update and good luck.

[OHNS2010]

Hi,

I regret for the mental trauma you had to undergo because of your GP. Please do relax, Pre-auricular pits are relatively harmless, at the most it can get infected. It is indeed not mandatory that you have to get those pits get excised at the earliest until there is repeated infections. Try convincing your GP again about those pits and get a referral letter for the further management. Good Luck.

Regards
OHNS2010

[suurlemoen]

Dear ENTMD

So we went to the GP, and pretty much got a brush-off, ie I am totally out of my mind thinking any thing bad of these tiny holes... At first I accepted it, and then realized that I just really want an ENT to have a look at it and at the very least say the exact same thing.

Today I received a copy of the referral letter. Included is the following sentence:  "Suurlemoen has read every internet site and is convinced the child could and will get nasty infected cysts, need major surgery, have hearing problems and have kidney disease."  ....  I just couldnt get her to understand, that I simply want those conditions ruled out, which I think she may have done, and really want a chat about the likely course of events I can expect in the future... I may add that when I mentioned the pits, the GP did not know what it was and had to search it on the net.

Why am I made to feel so terrible when I just want all the facts straight (as is possible) on the table. And really i want to know/make a decision as to whether I should consider early intervention ie surgical removal of the pits before any probs occur. The GP didnt really allow me to explain that and hopefully that is the only thing really to (or not to) think about.....

Is it a GP ego thing or am I now the paranoid mom....

PS: was it not for the internet, I would have been stuck from Fr till Mon with Mastitis, but as I got facts from a specialist site on the net, I realized that my  flue symptoms were actually mastitis in need of immediate antibiotics, which I got by going to the hospital staight away.   If youre not totally an idiot, and can use your common sense, the internet is not just bad!

[ENTMD]

I hope you don't get any "brush offs".  Even if they aren't too concerned, they should at least address it for you and give you a rationale for not being concerned.

The pit is lined with skin and therefore will always have the potential to become blocked/infected.  I don't think these can spontaneously go away.  At best, they just won't cause problems.