An impressive number of children need professional help for glue ear every year. There is a four in five chance a child will suffer from effusion otitis media in the first 10 years of life.
In accordance with a recent study, children all over the world who happen to have otitis media are more likely to recover from this disease. It seems that to treat effusion otitis media, a child only has to blow a balloon. This might sound unreal and even silly. However, the study is real and the treatment is possible.
What is Otitis Media?
Otitis media is a group of diseases, representing inflammatory infections that allow the middle part of the ear to be filled fluid. There are two types of otitis media. The first one, acute otitis media (AOM) has a great impact on kids giving them various symptoms. These symptoms include severe pain that causes them to sleep less, cry more, as well as have trouble eating. Fever is also a symptom, especially in severe cases.
Otitis Media Effusion (OME) doesn’t show so many symptoms. However, children who have this disease might lose their hearing since it can become chronic.
The Weird Treatment Should Be Used More
The researcher tested this strange technique on 320 children from 43 family doctor practices across the United Kingdom. The children were aged 4 to 11 and had histories of otitis media effusion, with fluid in their years.
The results were fantastic, showing that after only three months, almost half of the treated children had normal middle ear pressure compared with 38.5 percent of those who did not go through this procedure.
A Simple, Low-Cost Procedure
As the researchers stated, this weird treatment should be used more for helping kids over the age of four in order to stop this disease.
There seem to be some alternatives, such as steroids, decongestants, antibiotics and antihistamines, meant to treat this problem. However, these all appear to be quite ineffective. In conclusion, blowing up a nose balloon can help kids, reducing, not only pain in children affected by otitis media, but also hearing loss. And all these without having to give them drugs or make them go through surgery.
