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.

[gloriamarie]

by the way my daughter is just 3years old..

[gloriamarie]

Hi! I also have a daughter who has this pit..its on her left ear..before, it doesn't bother me when it get infected first time a year ago...but when it got swollen again this year, it kinda made me think if her condition is okay or not...is it okay to clean it always??

[gloriamarie]

Hi! I also have a daughter who has this pit..its on her left ear..before, it doesn't bother me when it get infected first time a year ago...but when it got swollen again this year, it kinda made me think if her condition is okay or not...is it okay to clean it always??

[xenofox]

I'm 28 and used to have preauricular pits. My dad has them too but he never has any problems at all. I had several infections when I was a kid and had to go through painful treatments for them. The pain associated with it (itchy, swollen big lump) was excruciating and I remembered one time doctor had to use a massive syringe to remove the pus (that was long time ago). Last infection I had made me go through two "incision&drainage" procedures (first one didn't drain all the pus completely) and anesthetics given to me didn't work particularly well because of the infection. The whole thing was just problematic and painful...I hope people who have them don't need to go through what I've been through. By reading your comments it sounds like most of you don't have that kind of problem (except for the kids =( ). I had them removed a few years ago after one bad infection and it was a successful operation and i could not be more happy about it. I would recommend surgery for people who has infection problem. The main thing is to have them remove COMPLETELY so make sure you get a good ENT surgeon. I'm a bit skeptic about doing it at a very young age now that I've read your comments (I have it removed when I was in my early 20s). Is it better to remove them when the kids are bit older? Does it make it easier? I am not so sure. However I still think you should talk to your ENT doctors first.

[dave890]

To all parents in  which is concerned, never tamper with that preauriccular pit spot. That make matters worse for your childs condition. I know from exsperience. Search for a doctor with the best knowledge before considering surgery.

[nickandjustinsmom]

I have a 2 year old son, who has 2 pits him self and has had them since he was born. He had surgery at 10 months, to remove the pits. Then a few months ago they started to get big and red. I took him back to the ear dr. Need less to say he had surgery again on the right side last month. Now his left side has gotten big and red and hurts him. He goes back to the dr this month. Will he be having surgery the rest of his life? Should i look for another dr?? Hes in so much pain from them. Im so worried about him.