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Here we talk to parents about how long and how frequently their child has experienced leaky ears. For some children, it was a recurring issue over many years.

J’s daughter has had leaky ears for more than 6 years

Interviewer: Okay. So, can you tell me all about when your child had leaky ears and for how long.

J: So, it’s been on and off since, it’s six years in January. So, she got a middle ear infection which then caused a perforation, and it just never healed. So, the perforation continually has infection which causes it to leak and smell.

Interviewer: Right, okay, got you.

J: So, this one now, that she’s got, it’s been there since July 22, this leaky ear and infection has been there. Like no matter what, drops or antibiotics, we use, it’s not gone.

Interviewer: Nothing works.

J: No.

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D’s 5 year old son L has had leaky ears since he was 5 months old

Interviewer: Can you tell me when your child had leaky ears and for how long?

D: Over several years. 003c first started when he was five months old.

Interviewer: Right, okay.

D: Um, he’s now at the age of five.

Interviewer: Oh, wow, okay. So, that’s quite a long history isn’t it.

D: It is yeah. Now, obviously, they’re not as regular as they used to be in recent years. Um, but his first one was at the age of five months old.
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Obviously, as he’s got older, if he gets earache, he now automatically assumes he’s got an ear infection. And he’ll come to me and say, “mummy I’ve got an ear infection”. But he now has had them so regular that he now knows what pain, well, to be honest, 003c now has a 40% perforated ear drum because of it. So now, if he gets an ear infection in that side, he doesn’t necessarily get pain because there’s nothing, there’s no fluid build up behind the ear drum.

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C’s son O is 5 and has had leaky ears for 4 years

Interviewer: Okay, can I just ask, can you tell me about when your son had leaky ears and for how long.

C: He has it quite regular and it can be quite painful for him, a lot of discharge comes out, it must be really uncomfortable for him. But he has had it for a long while.

Interviewer: So, when was it he first started getting ear infections with leaky ears.

C: He was about 12 months old.

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G’s 7 month old daughter M has been experiencing leaky ears for almost 2 months.

Interviewer: Oh, so how old is she?

G: Seven months.

Interviewer: Seven months old okay. And she’s got a leaky ear at the moment?

G: Yes, so both ears, it probably started around beginning of December. Yeah, both ears are just pouring.

Interviewer: Oh, OK, so that was really answered my first question, which is can you tell me when you had the leaky ears and how long. So, it’s beginning December 23 and its ongoing, she’s still got the leaking now.

G: Yeah, yeah.

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Leaky ears have affected some of the children frequently over the period since it first happened.

J’s daughter’s leaky ears come and go on a regular basis.

But it’s like now is she not prone to it cause she’s had it that many times. So, sometimes when it was leaking, I wouldn’t even ring the doctor cause I’m just like, it just kind of leaks out lasts a while, and it will come back itself. But she does seem to get pimples and stuff around her ear.

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L’s leaky ears were coming back every 2-3 months at one point.

We’ve had, um, many visits to out of services GPs because it’s happened on a weekend. Many appointments during the week when it’s happened. And there’s been a lot of frustration because they can see on 003c’s history, on his records, how many ear infections that he’s had and out of those visits to the GPs, it became a time, where he was about three to four years old, and we were visiting the GPs more or less every three months, two to three months because it reoccurred.

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Leaky ears in children

Here we talk to parents about their children’s experiences of having leaky ears. The medical term for leaky ears in children is acute otitis media...