i have a hole in my ear? (not ear canal)

[runner07]

okay so ever since i was born i've had this big bump with a hole in it, above my right ear. its located where the top curve meets the side of my head and its about as big as an ear piercing... maybe just a tad bigger. my left ear doesnt have the hole or the bump, it smoothly transitions from the top curve of my ear to the side of my head. sometimes this area would itch and many times this cloudy white/yellow/funny smelling liquid is excreted from the hole. and sometimes a little harder, darker yellow/brownish color looking (it kind of looks like ear wax) stuff would come out of this hole. if anyone could please tell me what exactly this is, and if it could get infected, how would i know? thank you :)

[Cococay7]

Sounds like this:

http://www.ghorayeb.com/AuricleCongenitalPit.html

[runner07]

thanks, but the hole's not inside my ear

[Dennis_]

I have the same exact thing !   It sucks because it stinks and is embarassing.  I have it on both ears.  Have you gotten any responses back that are worth anything.  Let me know !  I have had it my whole life and am damn sick of it.  My kids have it too.

Dennis  

[boulders]

i have the exact same thing, and its on my ear lobe and this white stuff comes out and it stink and its sometime itches alot, its do horrible i wish i didnt have it, i've always wondered what it was, and everyday i have to clean it properly. its such a mission.

WHAT IS IT!!!!

[tore21]

i have same thing as well as my wife and one of my kids got it on both ears i'm the only one of my moms kids that does but she does also she told me that doctors don't know to think of it but your right it stinks and suck to have it

[boulders]

i've found that if i clean it with surgical spirits it isnt so bad, the white gross stuff subsides, but being a girl i get very consious coz it sometimes gets in my hair, not cool at all.  but everything i've read said its on the top of the ear, mine is in my ear lobe, sometimes gets confused with a hole for an earing but its more on the side of my lobe, to be honest it was so itchy once i scratched it with a hair pin, lol and it goes no where, it just like a dead end with a pointless entry in to the ear lobe, do you or your wife or your kids have it on your ear lobes or where?

soz to be so personal. lol.

[boulders]

sorry addressed my comment above to only one person by accident. :-)  please any one respond

[SunnieD]

I have this hole also...its called a fistula....mine has a wierd smell at times...but not all the time....sometimes it will have a lil itch and when i scratch it..it smells....i have never actually seen any liquid come from the hole. Ive had it 28 years since birth. My daughter also has this hole...and she has never mentioned it itching or secreting any liquid. She is 8 years old.  Her father had one as well. Maybe some case are more extreme than others. Some doctors say the liquid and smell are due to infection. But I have never had mine treated , and never felt any affects of this really being some kind of infection. I would think that after 28 years something would have happened if this were truly some kind of infection.

[runner07]

my parents don't have it. my aunt does though, she's my father's sister. and my little sister has it on both ears while i just have it on my right one. we've both had it since birth too. its weird, i've recently noticed that it mostly secretes the liquid when i'm outside and its really hot. and when i'm in the cool indoors, its mostly dry.

[jennga]

My grandmom had it nd I do to her's leaked green puss mine now after 29 yrs is kinds swollen and leaks way more than ever and yea super embarassing imagine... heat of passion and no not that ear it stinks....lol *****, but it's neat to be different, well it was til I learned its pretty common.... although no one I actually know has it. I put 14k gold earrings in it to disgust my friends. Yea it's that deep....ewwww

[lnsng]

Its called an Ear Pit.  Its a minor anomaly and really nothing to worry about.  I have one, too.  If you have one, more likely than not, someone in your family has one.  I've read various things about the puss that may come out.  Some people say it smells bad, and others say there's no smell at all.  My ear pit does secrete something that occasionally does smell bad.  If you see a doctor about it, they treat it with antibiotics because the bad smell means bacteria has infected the ear pit.  I've had mine all my life and I've never had it treated.  I hardly affects me at all, other than sometimes people will say, "Hey!  You have a hole near your ear!"

[boulders]

the same thing happens with the belly ring, i wonder if your body thinks it needs to close the hole so it produces this stuff to close it but then all thats left is this stinky stuff. demmit. lol

[Littleduds]

I have one in my left ear, my dad has one in his right and my brother has one in each ear! I have one at the end of my nose, too, though it's not as noticeable as the one in my ear. Does anyone else have another one in a different part to their ear?! And does anyone know if they are the same thing?

[jess1818]

Im so glad that someone else has this. My boyfriend has it, and it annoys the hell out of me. The hole seems like its never ending. and the "stuff" that is in it is brownish yellowish, sticky and kind of a dry substance. its really hard to explain. I think it might be a wax build up or something, And nerv racking. I try to clean it out with tweezers, but its hard to get out because its sooo sticky. I pulled some out, and its never ending. I try to clean it and i cant because it hurts him, and there is too much in that hole. I wonder how deep it is. Do you think a small bug could live in it?? freeky!! Ive been looking for pictures online to compare to my boyfriends ear, but it cant find anything.

[shawdyross]

I heard these is called spirit holes or ghost holes. i was told when i was little that people with these holes sometimes have a sixth sense where my aunt has one and when she was young she told people she seen people that was never there call it imaginary friends hey i dont know. well my 1yr old has one in both ears and my three year old has one i actually has to take my 3yr old to the hospital cause i thought she was sick b/c she told me she say someone on my dresser and then she started crying and told me they were dead i told the doctor maybe she was hallucinating but the nurse in triage told me the same thing about the spirit holes and a nice story of how her 4 yr old son told her all about her father who was actually dead before he was even born.. crazy huh. I looked up Fistula what SunnyD said it was and i wouldnt really call it that but if you are sure then let me know b/c i need to be aware of how to treat my children and what to look for.

[shawdyross]

just found a website you can take a look at.... http://www.doctorhoffman.com/xpit.htm

[DDQ]

well i have it too i know other persons have it too but never knew other persons had a stinky smell to it like mine gosh mines annoying it itches often evryday... i hate it ill be doin surgery i found out its a sinus detcted at birth due to the external part of the ear. sometimes mine swells really big and then leaks a lot of mucus like a teaspoon full...lol i stick pins in in sometimes wen it is swollen to drain it. i hate it though by the way it affects your hearing wether u know it or not found this out by s doctor........... p.s

[Wear/a/Jimmy]

By far the best expanation I have ever found regarding this topic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-aUukFk-tY



Dr. J  AuD   ccc-a

[hieropants]

I have one on my left ear. I never realized other people like the video above released so much pus fluid. mine is dry. i clean mine with skin astringent it seems to help. what do other people use ??

[Dwight14]

I am not alone! Yaaaay! I've been looking for some info for a while. I have the HOLE on both sides of my ears, except the left side discharges more than the right side. When I was around 8, the left side swelled up and had to get the puss surgically removed, but I think the tracts are still there. After watching that video, that's what the surgeon should've done cause my left side is really a bug these days. Answering phones is disgusting cause the puss comes out sometimes. I have to clean it frequently throughout the day.

Both sides of my parents' family have it. My mom has one and my dad's mom has one also.

Is there a non-surgical procedure to lessen the puss or eliminate it?  

[prequntasprequntas]

I can't believe no one has yet given you the correct medical term for this. It's called a preauricular cyst/pit/sinus. They are quite common and are genetic. The stinky substance that comes out of it is keratin, and it does indeed have an awful smell. The reason it feels like a bump is because it's a little pit, and the bump is the pit itself. The whitish/yellowish color is normal, but when it's more brown, it could indicate an infection and you should talk to your doctor about it. Most of the time these require no treatment whatsoever, but they do occasionally require surgery if problematic. If you get abnormal discharge or any swelling of the pit or the side of your face, you should be seen by a docto as these are all signs of infection.

I have one, too! I know they are super common, and I try to keep an eye out for others who may have them because no one in my immediate family has them. Supposedly this genetic "defect" is more common in Asians, but they are pretty common in any population.

[dtate]

I have it it is called a preauricular sinus.  I was born with it on my right ear.  My older sister has it on her left.  Her daughter has it and my daughter has it on both ears.  Yes it can be itchy at times and puss may come out of it.  It is very important to keep it clean.  It can cause a very bad  and painful infection.  I have experienced this painful infection 4 times in my life and I am 34 years old.  I noticed when I get sinus infection it draines to that hole.   I have seen many doctors about it and what do you know.  I was desperate one day and went to see a doctor I found who happened to have an opening that very minute.  That doctor was the one that knew exactly what I had.  He said in order to keep that from happening I would have to have that hole in my ear stitch and closed. I am now experiencing terrible pain. turned purple and I can barely touch it.  

[galfsen]

My son has this on both sides of his ears. He is having surgery on Wednesday since he keeps getting infections on the left ear. The surgeon is actually taking cartilage from another part of his ear to fill the hole before sewing it up, this way the pit will be filled and there is less chance of the cyst coming back. Apparently they use to just sew it up, but studies have shown better results when using cartilage to fill it up. I'm crossing my fingers that the other hole never gets infected. It is much shallower then the infected one, and so far there hasn't been any fluid flowing from that one! My son is looking forward to not having a "stinky ear" anymore. He is only 8 and cannot stand the smell! Poor guy, for a long time I thought he wasn't washing his ears well enough and that's why it always smelt! You don't know how horrible I felt after we found out the truth behind the stinky ears!!!

[Hebers]

Hi, my daughter has tiny pin-***** holes above ears on both sides, I noticed them when she as born, as my husband has them.
They were never a problem and have never smelt of anything or had anything come out of them until October last year when one side 'got infected' a raised bump appeared slightly to one side of the hole and then it sort of burst and puss (not smelly puss!) came out, then it healed over, scabbed then puss built up behind scab, puss came out, healed, scabbed over etc etc !! we went to the doctors in the first instance quite a few times, tried various creams and antibiotics, nothing made any difference. doesn't seem to cause her any pain. She is now 5 years old. And we have been referred to childrens hospital to see an ear, nose & throat specialist, who has booked her in to have surgery in 5 weeks time, we've just had the date through the post. I am extremely un-easy about the whole thing and want to find out more about it. The surgeon said they would cut it open, take away the bad stuff and see how far the tunnel/canel behind the hole goes and hopefully take the whole 'deformity' away and stitch it up. They said there is a possibilty that a further operation might be needed if they don't take all of it away??!! Can you give me any advice/help