A Guide to the Study of Ear Disease Author:Peter McBride Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. DISEASES OF THE EXTERNAL EAR. In this work diseases of the auricle will be dismissed in a few words, not because they are unimportant, but bec... more »ause, being accessible to the eye and hand without the use of special appliances, they only require to be treated upon general medical and surgical principles. Like other parts, the auricle may be attacked by various skin diseases. Of these the most common is eczema, which may occur in an acute or a chronic form. Erythema, lupus, frost-bite, and erysipelas may be met with here as in other regions. Sometimes herpes attacks the external ear, either in the region of distribution of the great auricular or of the fifth nerve. When this is the case, the characteristic vesicles make their appearance after several days of severe neuralgic pain. Perichondritis is sometimes met with; and it may be well to remember the occasional existence of a prolongation of cartilage into the lobule, in which case the usually harmless operation of preparing the ears for the reception of rings may produce serious injury. Of tumours the fibrous cystic and vascular varieties are most frequently met with. The former seem to be most common in the lobule, and to occur, according to Roosa,1 chiefly in consequence of wearing heavy earrings. Epithelioma affecting the auricle has been observed, and is to be diagnosed on general principles. We can hardly dismiss diseases of the auricle without reference to a curious form of blood cyst called Hcematoma auris, or Othcematoma. Pathologically it consists of an effusion of blood between the cartilage and peri- chondrium, situated on the anterior surface of the auricle, and covered by slightly reddened or normal integument. The development of the somewhat rounded fluctuating tumour occurs altogether witho...« less