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.

[ENTMD]

I agree, probably not infected; you are expressing material from glands inside the pit.

My guess is that this will need to be treated at some point, however.  One of two things will likely happen -- either it will become infected and/or, as she ages, she will become embarrassed and self-conscious by it.  If it does become infected, the resultant scarring may make excision a little trickier.

I would suggest starting to find an Otolaryngologist whom you would trust to remove this, as I would think it's only a matter of time.

[Almandee]

I'm twenty three i have two ear pits. I've been to some drs that have stated that extracting this white discharge is ok as long as there is no pain. I had one of the pits completely removed due to a bug bite in the same area and THERES NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT IF THIS HAPPENS :) I've never had any problems after the procedure and no pain or drainage either. (My surgery was twelve years ago.)

[jclyde]

a cousin of mine and me both have this condition, both of us have had this since birth. when I was very young my mother would clean it out now I do it myself. I'm 37 now and I dont find it embarrassing at all, and I have never had an infection in it. If it doesnt cause you or your children any sort of issue I would not recommend any type of surgery (if its not broke dont fix it!) I'm VERY active, I went through the army, as did my cousin, with it and I work out 12-15 hours a week. dont take anyone at there word when they say that eventually this is certain to be a problem, my personal experience would suggest otherwise.

[mavimo]

I have a 2 year old girl and 2 1/2 month baby. They were born with this pits in both ears. I just started to look for  some info today and found many articles about it.
I clean them like 3 times a week, but sometimes when I do it it just doesn't seem to stop comming out, specially in my girl. (this means is infected or normal function of the body )Should I just keep on doing it. If yes, could I just  alcohol or desinfectant. The pediatrician told me just to take what comes out and not push anymore, but sometimes it comes out a lot . I live in FL , so the whether makes it worse because of the sweat.
thanks./

[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.

[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