Dr. Tang Thi Minh Thu, Department of Pediatrics, Central Military Hospital 108 shared that, unlike acute otitis media that often causes pain, fever and is easy to detect, otitis media with fluid retention in children develops silently. This "silentness" makes the disease easily overlooked, while it can seriously affect children's hearing and language development.
Otitis media with fluid retention is a condition in which the middle ear is inflamed, with mucus accumulating in the eardrum but without clear signs of acute infection. Children may not have ear pain or fever, making it difficult for parents to recognize if they do not observe carefully.
The disease is common in children from 6 months to 3 years old, but older children are still at risk of contracting it. The main cause is that the eardrums of children are shorter, narrower and more horizontal than adults, making fluids easily clogged. In addition, rhinitis, flu, VA inflammation, cigarette smoke, dust, allergies, gastroesophageal reflux or maxillofacial malformations can also increase the risk of the disease.
Doctors recommend that parents should not wait until the child complains of ear pain to take them to the doctor. Signs to note include: the child calls without turning around, frequently asks again, turns on the TV or phone at high volume, slow speech, lisp, unclear pronunciation. Older children may complain of tinnitus, full ears or a feeling of "bumps" like there is water in the ear.
If not detected and treated promptly, prolonged stagnant fluid can cause atrial fibrosis, atrial collapse, atrial pleural contracture, and even form cholesteatoma - a lesion that can destroy the structure of the ear bone and cause hearing loss. Poor hearing in the language development stage also causes children to pronounce incorrectly, make communication difficult, and affect learning.
When suspecting a child is sick, parents need to take the child to a pediatrician or Ear, Nose and Throat specialist for ear endoscopy, auditory measurement and hearing assessment. Depending on the condition, the doctor may prescribe medical treatment with medication or surgical intervention such as VA aspiration, ventilation to drain fluid and balance the pressure of the middle ear.
To prevent the disease, parents need to keep the living environment clean and airy, avoid cigarette smoke; completely treat rhinitis and pharyngitis, flu; keep children's ears dry after bathing and swimming; breastfeed children for the first 6 months and get fully vaccinated. For bottle-feeding children, heads should be raised, avoid lying flat because it is easy to cause choking and vomiting fluids on the ears, nose and throat area.
