Gunky ear........how long should it last?

[pepsi]

My ds6 has a gunky ear, he woke up during the night last Monday crying and saying his sister had put water in his ear, was awake for a couple of hours but fine the next day. The next morning when he woke up I noticed a discharge on his pillow and in his ear but he hasnt complained of any pain, its been like it every day and still is. He only says it hurts when I wipe away the discharge with cotton wool, Im not doing anything inside the ear though. He had grommets when he was 3 yrs old and again at 5 years old but we have never had discharge like this before. Im assuming he has an ear infection, no temperature though. Will this clear up by itself or does it require antibiotics?

anyone out there to help?

I would go and get it checked. It might need abs but it might not... can you go tomorrow?

Yes, I plan to call the docs in the morning and will go whenever they have an appointment. Was rather hoping it would clear up over the weekend.

Sounds like it has perforated ds had one like this iirc but it ran clear so didn't do anything about it and lasted no more than a day or two. If it had been a few days and/or run with coloured/smelly fluid I'd have taken him to dr.

Other than give antibiotics what can they do. What might happen if left untreated, just curious.

Not much sadly , but it is worth having it checked to see if it is infected - they can swab to check for bacterial or viral - and if it has actually perforated.

pepsi, as LIZS said this is likely to be a perforated ear drum. In view of his previous grommets it would be worth taking him to the GP. If he still has some discharge he should have some antibiotics. He needs to keep his ear dry too like after his grommets.