Lump in Earlobe

Not many people suffer from earlobe lump. However, if you have opened this web page on lump in earlobe, you or someone known to you must be experiencing this uncommon discomfort. The present article informs you about some of the possible causes of earlobe lump. Go through it, and try to understand the condition. Never rely on self-assessment. Do fix an appointment with a registered medical practitioner to restore your normal life.

Causes of Earlobe Lump

Acne: Acne is described as the localized skin inflammation, which occurs as a result of overactivity of the oil glands located at the base of the hair follicles. When these oil glands produce natural oil in excess, some gets accumulated in the skin pores. The build-up further attracts dust, dirt, and traps dead skin cells. Such a deposit is quite prone to infection causing micro-organisms. Acne may occur literally in any part of the body. However, the occurrence is more commonly observed on the body parts which are generally exposed to the atmosphere like face, neck, hands, etc. This is probably because the accumulation of the oil, dust, dead cells are more exposed to the infection causing micro-organisms. Ear lobes are among such body parts which almost always remain exposed. Hence, the painful earlobe lump can be a result of acne.

Piercing: The practice of using a sharp instrument, which is usually a needle, to make a hole through a body part like nose, lip, earlobe, etc., is known as piercing. It is most commonly done on earlobes. Both men and women like to get their earlobes pierced. When you get your ears pierced, the earlobe part involved gets injured due to the sudden removal of a small part of skin. It takes time to heal. Till then, there is redness, swelling and a lot of discomfort like pain and burning sensation. In other words, there is a kind of lump in earlobe after piercing. The discomfort gets aggravated by touching. Because of the presence of swelling, it may appear as if a lump has formed on the earlobe.

Folliculitis: The condition of inflamed one or more hair follicles on any part of the skin is called folliculitis. It occurs when infection causing micro-organisms enter a follicle which has suffered some sort of trauma or injury. It quite commonly occurs on the scalp. Though rarely seen, yet it may occur in earlobes as well. The probable reason may be irritation of the earlobe skin due to jewelry. Folliculitis can give rise to small lump in earlobe.

Cancer: Your body is made up of billions of cells which grow, divide, and then die in a more or less predictable manner. You can say a cell follows its genetic clock. When something goes wrong with this genetic clock, the cell goes on dividing. The fast dividing cells lumps together and form a mass of extra tissue, which is called tumor. The tumor continues to grow. It may grow, it may damage and invade surrounding tissues. Cancer can get triggered in any cell of the body. If it gets started in any of the earlobe cell, tumor is formed there. Since tumor looks like a lump, it is one of the possible causes of hard lump in earlobe.

Barotrauma: Barotrauma is a scientific term which describes the injury caused to the air containing parts of the body due to the sudden dramatic change in air pressure. It can affect the middle ears, sinuses, lungs, and the gastrointestinal tract. There are some characteristic symptoms of barotrauma. They are dizziness, ear discomfort or pain in one or both the ears, slight to severe hearing loss and sensation of fullness in the ears. Under serious conditions, you may have the feeling of pressure in the ears and nosebleed in addition to the given symptoms.

Above described are some of the common causes of lump in earlobe. When the underlying cause is treated, the lump will automatically disappear from the earlobe. To get the hidden reason determined and treated, you need to visit a medical practitioner. It is advisable for you to consult a doctor as soon as possible so that unnecessary aggravation of the condition can be avoided. Here's wishing you a fast recovery.