Is it normal to have painful lump behind the ear? - Dr. Sreenivasa Murthy T M

It can be a swelling Arising from the skin like a sebaceous cyst, a fibroma, a nodule, a congenital cyst which arise where two bones meet called the suture line, like the dermoid cyst, or a benign bony swelling. If the patient complaints of a painful swelling behind the ear, we look for a parotid gland swelling, because part of the parotid gland goes behind the ear also and it can cover the grove behind the ear called the post oral groove, common is salivary gland infection. Swelling can be because of lymph node swelling, most common causes being viral infection, infection of the skin of the scalp, ear lobe infection secondary to piercing the earlobe and you have a node there. Infection in the ear canal, called as otitis externa which can lead to infection behind the ear or infection from the middle ear which has spread to the bone behind the ear called as mastoiditis and destruction of the bone and pus accumulating behind the ear causing post oral abscess. It can happen in 2 scenarios, in young children who had a bacterial infection and it has been neglected, it flares upto the extent of matoiditis can lead to subperiosteal abscess or a condition called colostomia. It is a condition of the ear where the skin of the ear drum or into the bone behind the ear and the bone gets eroded and it lies in the skin. To prevent these complications is why when the patient had middle ear infection, they recommend a surgery. Occasionally deeper group of lymph nodes can get swollen because of bacterial, viral infection, tuberculosis, or certain tumorous growth also.Hence any medication which is not responding to regular medication and which is lasting for 3 to 4 years, it needs further investigations by blood investigations, ultrasound , CT scan and sometimes even a fine needle aspiration cytology.