What is this?! DS’s poor ear…

[Amch]

Hi all, looking for some advice please…

Took DS to GP last week, they said that his crusty, scabby (sorry) and weepy ear is an infection. They did prescribed a spray which they said should clear it without antibiotics.

Spray hasn’t worked and the scabbing has gotten worse. It’s so dry inside the ear and cracking. Looks incredibly sore.

DS has no temp, acting normal and not complaining about it.

Yesterday I went back and they prescribed oral antibiotics but as predicted, he will NOT take the stuff. Tried hiding it in everything possible. Going to attempt to change it for tablets so that I can crush them and try hiding them that way as the liquid doesn’t taste too pleasant.

I feel like I should be doing something more to help him but I don’t know what… it just looks awful.

Coca Cola was the only drink I could mix it in for Ds. I'd put it in 1/2 and inch or less in the bottom of a cup and add a straw and pretend to be drinking it when I'd walk in the room (McDonalds cup with lid is best) He'd look at me as I pretended to sip it and I'd ask, did you want some? But act like you don't want him to drink all of "your drink"
Worked till he was about 3 or so.

Jesus that is bad. How on earth could any GP let it get that bad? FFS.

I didn't realise flucloxacillin was so bad, no wonder my 2 year old put up a bit of a fight, although got there with bribery. I hope the crushed tablets work, it looks so sore.

I'd give the antibiotics 24 hrs and be back to gp tbh .That looks so painful
I think I would be putting some vasaline just on the outside to see if helps with the splitting .
Please update us and fingers crossed that improves quickly poor wee soul

Oh poor little poppet!!

I was initially a bit sceptical of you marking the photo as "sensitive" but wowsers OP I can see why you're worried. I'd want to keep an eye on his temperature etc, I'm not surprised you're freaking out. I would be too and honestly I'm amazed they don't think he needs IV antibiotics (not a medic though).

Paeds nurse here- DO NOT put vaseline on the ear.

I will update but planning on going to the walk in clinic tomorrow morning when they open. Something is telling me that it needs cleaning by a nurse and a second opinion on this ear spray. He’s asleep now so will pop on some vaseline shortly :(

@AliceS1994 Oh good job you posted when you did as I was just about to! Have you seen this before? Do you think it looks like an ear infection? Or any recommendations on how to stop the scabs from splitting? Sorry for all the questions… I’ve been using otomize ear spray but also wondering if that is drying it out even more?

Oh goodness. Echoing others with the do what you have to do as a parent, bribes, favourite cartoon about medicine etc. It's a nightmare. Recently had consistent success with a yoghurt , strawberry and chocolate buttons concoction...although for the whole course of antibiotics I kept muttering to myself "ask next time about a suppository!"

It looks like impetigo which can become nasty quite quickly. Keep his hands clean and fingernails short while it's infected (and don't share towels etc.)

@Freeyatortillathriller thank you - I suggested this to the gp but she said that as she could see white coating down the actual earhole it’s more likely infection. I did still wonder though as when you google pictures it does look like it could be.

Impetigo is an infection, a skin infection. It sounds like it started in the ear canal and spread outwards as it wasn't effectively treated. Poor kid it looks so uncomfortable. I hope he makes a quick recovery.

I was going to say impetigo too, and they do a cream to put on that. Impetigo has a yellowish ness to it though. My son used to get it now and again, cream cleared it up quickly.

That looks like photos I've seen of a flesh eating bacteria ear infection. Please ask the doctors to consider that!!!

Very similar looking.

Unsure of your LO’s age but I’ve been disguising amoxicillin in banana fruit pouches this week and my LO has not even noticed. Used a syringe to decant in to the pouch and gave it a good shake.
Hope he’s soon on the mend!

I'd have his ear looked at again tomorrow. I wonder if there's something stuck in there that has triggered this?

If he gets a temperature at any point I'd go to A&E. It clearly needs the antibiotics. If you continue having issues getting the meds in to him then I'd ask for a different AB asap if there's another appropriate one for this sort of infection. It's worth noting as well that different pharmacies dole out different flavours of exactly the same medicine.