# Medical help! Ear lump? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 16, 2004, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-help-ear-lump/240334 "2004-04-16T10:09:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![yellow\_peril](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ee7513/32.png) [@yellow\_peril](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellow_peril)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-help-ear-lump/240334/1 "2004-04-16T10:09:00Z")
I’ve got a strange lump in my earlobe. There’s a wierd spot type head, but inside the lobe is a hard lump about the size of a sesame seed that hurts when I squeeze it. I don’t know if the two are related. I’m getting really paranoid about it, because anything like this and I automatically think it’s a tumor. Also, I just came back from Spain, so I’m unreasonably worried that some bizzare insect laid an egg in me. Does anyone know what this might be? Suggestions, please. ---
**Author:** ![Draknek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@Draknek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draknek)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-help-ear-lump/240334/2 "2004-04-16T10:28:27Z")
I’ve got something like that myself. I don’t know what it is, but I think it’s just an ordinary blackhead that happens to be in the ear. it hasn’t killed me yet, and no strange bugs have come crawling out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-help-ear-lump/240334/3 "2004-04-16T11:03:57Z")
I’ve had them a few times. Apparently the slang term for them is “pecks”, although that may just be local. They dissapear within a week or so, but they do hurt when you touch them. Bear in mind, I have no medical training, though. ---
**Author:** ![nocturnal\_tick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@nocturnal\_tick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nocturnal_tick)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-help-ear-lump/240334/4 "2004-04-16T12:18:18Z")
I take it you didn’t once have your ear pierced because it could be a buildup of dirt etc. I did once have a piercing and occasionally get a build-up just like you described. ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-help-ear-lump/240334/5 "2004-04-16T12:21:37Z")
It sounds like a zit to me. I get 'em in my earlobe once in a while, and experience much of what you’re describing. Oops…TMI!!! ---
**Author:** ![booklover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-help-ear-lump/240334/6 "2004-04-16T13:36:43Z")
Yeah, it’s an ear zit. I get them from time to time and they hurt like nothing else. It’ll either go away or you can try to pop it—they tend to be particularly explosive, if you’re into that sort of thing. The bonus is that popping tends to relieve the pain (once you get past the initial pain of squeezing it hard enough). ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-help-ear-lump/240334/7 "2004-04-16T14:44:42Z")
Oy. I get those every now and then. I wonder if a tendency to get them is hereditary because my mom and grandmother get 'em too. Hurt like the dickens, don’t they? I never could get rid of the ones I’d have. And mine get big, none of this sesame seed stuff. Try bacon grease or bag balm if you want to bring it to a head and get it over with, though. ---
**Author:** ![yellow\_peril](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ee7513/32.png) [@yellow\_peril](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellow_peril)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-help-ear-lump/240334/8 "2004-04-16T15:23:53Z")
It’s not a piercing. I have one in the other ear from about ten years back - and that’s always a lump. I did a bit of research on the web, which I wouldn’t recommend to anyone with something wrong with them. Far too scary. I’ve squeezed the thing as hard as I can but I haven’t been able to bring forth the explosion of pus I was hoping for. Bacon grease it is, then. Thanks for the help! ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-help-ear-lump/240334/9 "2004-04-16T15:34:42Z")
I have one in each ear, for whatever reason I’ve always just assumed that it had something do with the fact that I have pierced ears, even though they are located (relatively speaking) a good distance away from the piercing site. I’ve just been going on the assumption that it’s some kind of cartilage “scar”. Never goes away, does hurt if I squeeze it, but, only because I’m forcing my poor tender earskin (hm) onto a hard pebble of cartilage. ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-help-ear-lump/240334/10 "2004-04-16T15:55:56Z")
Yeah had one about this time last year and it hung around for about three weeks before finally shrinking and disappearing (in fact, the first thread I ever started on the SDMB was about this very ear-thing 😉 ) I wouldn’t be too worried. But let us know if you notice a gecko emerging from your ear, y’know, just in case. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-help-ear-lump/240334/11 "2004-04-16T16:51:37Z")
IANAD, but sounds like a cyst. Visualize a big pimple, deep in the skin, without a pore connecting it to the outside world. In other words, it’s pretty much self-contained and entirely inside the skin. Squeezing them isn’t a good idea as they don’t have a pre-determined escape route - ie: a pore to pop out of. Sometimes, a cyst can rupture internally when squeezed, and then you’re really got a mess. I used to have a recurring one on an earlobe, and one day, it finally decided to go bother someone else and disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-help-ear-lump/240334/12 "2004-04-16T17:16:28Z")
> [@green\_bladder](#): > > I wouldn’t be too worried. But let us know if you notice a gecko emerging from your ear, y’know, just in case. Hmmm… I thought the eye jewelry thing was a bizarre craze, but Live Gecko Earrings might be worth marketing 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-help-ear-lump/240334/13 "2004-04-16T18:27:51Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > IANAD, but sounds like a cyst. The [Human Botfly](http://www.ambergriscaye.com/pages/town/botfly.html) is spread by mosquito bites. The resulting larval growth is usually mistaken for a cyst in American hospitals. However, I don’t think that Botflies are common in Spain. ---
**Author:** ![nocturnal\_tick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@nocturnal\_tick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nocturnal_tick)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-help-ear-lump/240334/14 "2004-04-16T19:02:00Z")
Don’t scare the guy (or gal) **Adam** , you got to learn to be subtle about these things. I mean sure it may be the larvae of the human botfly, and it may cause **yellow peril** incredible pain as the flesh bursts open releasing waves of insects from his/her earlobe. Or the larvae may migrate through the ear into the brain and cause a painful death. Or it may not, the trick is subtlety you see. P.S. Are you a dude or a chick, **yellow peril**? If you’re a dude then I feel for you, man and if you’re a chick, [joey]How you doin’?[/joey] 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![yellow\_peril](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ee7513/32.png) [@yellow\_peril](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellow_peril)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-help-ear-lump/240334/15 "2004-04-17T17:28:05Z")
I’m a dude. That botfly stuff just made me laugh. I’ve already given the thing a damn good squeezing, but I might give that a rest now, thanks to the cyst suggestion. I think I’ll just ride this thing out… maybe stick a pin in it. (Joke.) ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-help-ear-lump/240334/16 "2004-04-17T18:12:55Z")
Me and my mother both get them from time to time. You can’t squeeze 'em to any good effect, and they usually just go away after some time. If you really want to poke it, go ahead. It’s your earlobe. If you do, please understand that we want pictures. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-help-ear-lump/240334/17 "2004-04-17T20:25:12Z")
Erm … is there a reason that no one’s suggested simply going to a doctor? I mean, yeah, pimple most likely, even a bug bite, but if you’re that worried about it, I really wouldn’t suggest performing medieval procedures such as slathering it with bacon grease or crushing it with your fingers or digging up some leeches to draw out the noxious humours. And if it’s a cyst or an abscess you don’t wanna be bursting it. Dude. Just go to a doctor/dermatologist already and get it lanced/removed/medicated/hatched. And good luck! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-help-ear-lump/240334/18 "2004-04-17T22:51:10Z")
I’ve had one of those for about eight years. For most of that time, it wasn’t visible at all – unless I irritated it by fiddling with it, in which case it became a _red_ lump. It’s getting bigger though, so now it looks like I had my ear pierced and it healed over badly. I imagine a plastic surgeon could take it out from the back without disfiguring the lobe too much – but I’m not sweating over it just yet.