Ear canal connected to eyes

[kiko85]

For the past couple years, I've been noticing that whenever I have an excess of tears (due to allergies, crying, irritation, etc), I feel wetness in my ears.  It's very noticable in the bottom ear when I'm laying on my side.  It's never dripping out, but I sometimes dry it with a Qtip because it is so bothersome.  I realize nobody I've ever talked to has experienced this.  I even asked an ENT once, and he told me it was impossible because my eardrums are intact and completely healthy looking.  He said the wetness is probably because I use Qtips and the skin is dried out and irritated, which causes the skin inside to "weep."
I swear that when I wear a lot of dark eye makeup, the Qtip comes out of my ear greyish-black.  I did forget to mention to the ENT that maybe five years ago, I had an outer ear infection where I was prescribed acetic acid drops.  I laid on my left side and put the prescribed amount in my right ear so it wouldn't drain out and get wasted.  A few seconds later, I felt the acetic acid in my eyes burning terribly.  Maybe I have some strange deformation of the ear, but how else could I have this happen?

My symptoms sound very much like this user's: http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Eye-Care/Eye-and-Ear-connection/show/388607#post_2284914


This discussion is related to Eye and Ear connection?.

[IndieVik]

I'm prone to ear infections and my ears constantly pop like when I flex my jaw, yawn or swallow. I have tinnitus and they're extremely sensitive to sound. I noticed the same thing when I cry, it feels like there's a liquid draining from the inside of my ear for a brief moment. It's clear and watery but feels more like a solidified wax. My ears leak a lot though and I checked with my doctor, there's no ear infection currently but I feel like it's an inner ear infection because even my balance is off and my eyes feel "sick" and have pressure. I think there's a link to the way the sinus glands affect its neighboring glands in the ears to trigger it from an emotional stimulus maybe like the way tinnitus is linked to patients with anxiety and depression.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[hcwa]

I do now wonder if it is some sort of dysfunction of the eustachian tube, as that is sort of connected the eye in a way that tears drain into the nasal cavity, which the eustachian tube in the ear is also connected to. Im not a doctor but I could figure those connections out. Makes you wonder.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[Justame123]

This also happens to me every time i cry.  It's always bothered me because it gets itchy.  I don't love having to clean my ears with a qtip after crying, but it's the only way to ease the itch.  

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[Karia96]

Every time I cry, the inside of my ears get wet, as if the tears are leaking through my ears. I came here from a google search asking if the tear ducts are connected to the ears with no luck. It’s almost as if when I cry, the dried up wax liquifies maybe? I’ve noticed more wax when I dry my ears out too, even if I had just cleaned them out not that long ago. My theory is now wondering if face/head heats up enough to melt the wax so I notice it more? I hope I’m not the only one out there, however this may be used as a “fun fact” about myself later on.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

I have no clue except that no way tears would ever be connected to roll out the ears.

[ladynas7]

same here every time i cry  i feel an annoying itch in my ear and then it get wet

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[Minediie]

I also experience this while crying. Laying or standing. My ears get wet and it always bothers me to the point that I gotta wipe the inside.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[Matcollins]

I find the Dr.’s responses both dismissive and disrespectful. This kind of arrogant way of dealing with people’s reported maladies (to call somebody delusional) is not only medically inappropriate, but also ethically repulsive.

[JohnHaganMD]

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[Allyssachristine]

I too experience pretty much to a t what vision deals with. Sitting, standing, laying down. Doesn't matter. If my eyes water, my ears fill with a clear liquid and my nose runs with the same clear liquid. Enough where you can feel it from barely touching my outer ear. I have no history of ear infections or ear trauma. I wish I could say it isn't an issue but I'm allergic to everything and i cry easy so I'm constantly dealing with leaky and itchy ears. And no, i haven't over cleaned my ears or anything. There's absolutely no pain associated with this. I'm so grateful to have found this post because it's been driving me nuts!

[JohnHaganMD]

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[vision85]

Hello All, I am so grateful to find this post.  Every single time I cry my ears water.  For as long as I can remember.  I'm 52. Not just a little bit, but any person could put their pinky in the front of my ear canal and feel it on the outside of where the ear canal begins.  It happens a tiny bit when I eat as well (plus my nose runs a little and I have to dab the inside with a tissue.  It is a clear and watery.  It is NOT thick like nasal discharge when crying).  The more I cry, the more water comes out.  I can feel it when it starts.  It may seem impossible, but I'm telling you it is real, FOR YEARS.  Then it makes me want to itch the inside of my ear at the top of the ear canal but way in the back.  Mostly I don't do it but if I'm crying like at the end of the movie "The Notebook" (haha), then my ear really waters even more, along with my nose that is now full of a different thick snot (for lack of a better term).  I have no idea why or how this happens.  All I can say is I'm curious to know and thankful that I see others who expereince the same.  It's not a problem in any way, just interesting.  And itchy.

[JohnHaganMD]

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[allergy89]

Did you ever get a diagnosis for this? I have noticed this for a long time now especially if i cry in bed. However today I let out tears sitting down and my ears watered up. I didn't cry very much so not a lot came out. I do wonder if this has something to do with my eustachian tube dysfunction and sometimes feeling i can whistle through my ears.

[JohnHaganMD]

Why don't you make a new post. Not likely this almost 3 year old post will be answered.

[vision85]

Hello All, I am so grateful to find this post.  Every single time I cry my ears water.  For as long as I can remember.  I'm 52. Not just a little bit, but any person could put their pinky in the front of my ear canal and feel it on the outside of where the ear canal begins.  It happens a tiny bit when I eat as well (plus my nose runs a little and I have to dab the inside with a tissue.  It is a clear and watery.  It is NOT thick like nasal discharge when crying).  The more I cry, the more water comes out.  I can feel it when it starts.  It may seem impossible, but I'm telling you it is real, FOR YEARS.  Then it makes me want to itch the inside of my ear at the top of the ear canal but way in the back.  Mostly I don't do it but if I'm crying like at the end of the movie "The Notebook" (haha), then my ear really waters even more, along with my nose that is now full of a different thick snot (for lack of a better term).  I have no idea why or how this happens.  All I can say is I'm curious to know and thankful that I see others who expereince the same.  It's not a problem in any way, just interesting.  And itchy.

[Krikrikriw9]

There are quite a no. of articles on pubmed about first branchial clefts. You can get quite unusual versions of them.
The one I referenced is at:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24669347
Free to read online. They speculate there was an infra-auricular fistula that closed due to infection.

In my case I'm not speculating the salivary glands are relevant (although it might depend why you are crying? too much chilli?)
The human body is wonderfully complex and variable. Who knows whether there are people contrary to what you would expect that do have a connection from their eye, or from their nasolacrimal gland, to their ear? Never say never. From experience, standard anatomy textbooks don't always account for the strange weird and wonderful variations that you can come across.
I wouldn't dismiss people's reports of unusual happenings in their body - I would try to understand.
Don't need a hankie thanks, this really is not an issue for me! ;)

[JohnHaganMD]

I didn't say there no reports of unusual first brachial clefts. If you want to reference one that reports causing tearing out the ear post it.  I'm not dismissing anything or anyone. If someone comes here and says they can talk out their belly button and drink through their ears all I'm going to say is there is not likely anyone else of the 7.5 billion people on this planet that have the same problem and I'm not going to try and understand.

[Krikrikriw9]

And that's how medical science advances?!

[JohnHaganMD]

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[HK123]

Interesting. I am here because I had a vitrectomy tuesday, my eyeball is all bloody. Today I had a headache and felt icky and unstable balance slightly. My ear feels clogged up deep in my head. I Q-tipped and got fresh blood. Some from the other ear as well. It has subsided. But looking into it to decide if I need to bother the surgeon after hours. Or not.
And many docs dispute a connection to eye and ear

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Anatomists have yet to find such a connection in many centuries of dissection.

[Skyler89345]

Thats the point. Don't dismiss things because it hasn't been found, we have so many ways that our body can mess up. I have two different ears patterns, and every doctor I've been too has never seen such.One has a concha, one doesn't. It's not uncommon, just not spoken of often because people don't notice. I notice every time I cry, i cry sitting up in case I have a panic attack, clear liquid, like tears, come out of my ears as well.  (:

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Now way to carry on a discussion with that mind-set.

[MrPresley]

Not discounting the other posters, but this thread is morphing into a junior version of the dilation drops causing floaters thread, LOL.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

I think I'll sign off this one also.

[Krikrikriw9]

I also have this but it only affects my right ear. When I cry, my right ear gets wet from inside the ear canal. It doesn't bother me I just find it interesting. I wondered was there some unusual connection between eye and ear or was there a gland in my ear that reacts when I cry. I've heard of someone else this happens to, so you're not alone!

[JohnHaganMD]

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[Krikrikriw9]

Hi again. I've been looking into this some more and doing a bit of research. (I also work on a craniofacial team & have a lot of interest in this area). I wonder could this be an example of (apologies for the medical jargon) a periauricular first branchial cleft anomaly. These are extremely rare, although people can have them without causing symptoms and not realise. Females usually have them more than males. It's nothing to worry about by the way. You can have a fistula (or pipe, like the Dr said above) which connects two structures. There is a medical case report for example about someone whose salivary gland (submental - or under the chin - which is v. unusual) was connected to her ear canal. When she ate saliva would come out her ear. You can have other unusual ones connecting different structures in the face that you wouldn't think possible. Just a thought.

[RogueRunaway]

I experience this as well, but only when I cry laying down! I lay on my side and the bottom ear always ends up wet. I've been told that it's probably just my tears rolling down my face into or onto my ear, but I always have earbuds in. How is it possible for my tears to run down my face, back into my ear, and within my earbud as it appears? It isn't. The tears have to come from within and that's really just simple physics.

[JohnHaganMD]

No anatomical connection is likely unless you are the lone person on this earth with an eye-ear pipeline.

Looks like you have clones. And as to tears coming out your ears from your eyes (instead of them coming into the ear from the outside), that's not physics that's delusion.

[JohnHaganMD]

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[Krys_if_you_please]

I'd gladly volunteer for an MRI or another scan to see what anatomic anomalies can be seen.  Additionally,  fly me to your office and give me a cut onion or anything that makes me sneeze and you can culture the fluid that only comes out of my ears when my eyes water.  Nothing delusional about it.  I'm an intelligent, educated, woman. Comments just like yours, where providers refute their patients and disregard their input, are the exact reason I intent to be a provider.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[Mark7575]

Same here. Weat eyears with intact ear  drums when cry or in the morning some times. My MD had no explanation ether.
Eyes and ear are both connected to nose? Could  these connections be aligned in some cases such way that liquid can pass from eyes to ears?

[heidiben]

SAME HERE. And I'm not crazy. I wear liquid liner and it often seeps out through my eyes also... Tear duct? But DEFINITELY has been inside my ear before also,

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

No anatomical connection is likely unless you are the lone person on this earth with an eye-ear pipeline.

How is it possible? The same things that can irritate the eye can irritate the sinuses' and skin that lines the nose, throat and ear.

JCH MD

[Bumper0329]

You're an *******, " JCH MD"

Just because you dont know something,it isn't possible nor does have it have a name.

I too have had this recently happen to me and at first I thought how did my ears get wet? My tears must've dropped into my ears...but everytime I cried it happened. And more importantly when I calmly placed eye drops into my eyes, I felt my ears get immediately wet! No emotions involved there, simple disturbing observation!! I'm writing this here so others know they arent alone.

I'm not delusional.

I have no explanation as to why it happens.

And your pompous arrogant ass needs to apologize to every person you insulted.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[PookieToo]

I thought I was alone, and medicos dismissed it.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[kiko85]

I mean to say that I felt the acetic acid in my right eye.

[ChrisPederson]

If I put in ear drops, they come out both eyes a little later.  I thought everyone had this happen.