Mastoiditis
Overview
Mastoiditis is a serious infection that affects the mastoid bone behind the ear. It's more common in children and should be diagnosed and treated quickly.
Symptoms
The symptoms of mastoiditis usually include: pain, soreness or tenderness behind the earredness behind the ear (this can be harder to see on brown or black skin)swelling behind the ear, which can cause it to stick outdischarge from the eara high temperaturetiredness and irritabilityheadachehearing lossin the affected ear You're more likely to get mastoiditis if you have a severe ear infection or get lots ofear infections.
Treatment
If you have mastoiditis, you'll be treated by an ear specialist in hospital. The main treatment isantibiotics. These are given directly into a vein through a drip (intravenously). You'll usually need to stay in hospital for 1 or 2 days to make sure the antibiotics are working. If your symptoms start to get better, you may be given antibiotic tablets to take at home. If antibiotics do not work or the infection gets worse, you may need: treatment to drain pus from your ear using a needle or by making a small cut in or behind the earsurgery to remove part of the mastoid bone (mastoidectomy)