What are the Causes of Otalgia / earache

Otalgia (earache/pain in the ear) has various causes which can be listed as follows:

Otological causes

• Acute otitis externa
• Furunculosis
• Viral infection – myringitis bullosa
• Perichondritis
• Acute otitis media
• Acute barotrauma
• Herpes zoster (Ramsay Hunt Syndrome)
• Malignant otitis externa
• Neoplasia

Non-Otological causes

• Tonsillitis
• Dental disease
• Temporomandibular joint pathology (Costen’s syndrome)
• Cervical spine disease
• Carcinoma in the upper air and food  passages

The treatment of the otalgia (other than analgesics) depends on the underlying cause.

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