During a consultation, your doctor will use various techniques in his assesment of the symptom: Earlobe symptoms. These may include a physical examination or other medical tests. Your doctor may ask several questions when assessing your condition. It is important to remember that your consultation is a two-way process and any extra information you can share with your doctor may help them with their diagnosis.
Some of the questions your doctor may ask are listed below:
Why: to determine if acute or chronic.
Why: e.g. chilblains may cause earlobe inflammation; methemoglobinemia may cause blue earlobes; Raynaud's syndrome may cause earlobe numbness, pain, pallor or redness; infected ear lobe due to ear ring allergy may cause ear lobe pain, redness, swelling or discharge; eczema may cause dry, red and scaly skin on the ear lobes.
Why: suggests infected ear lobe. Often due to contact allergy to nickel or chromium in an ear ring.
Why: e.g. potassium chlorate, sulfanilamide, phenacetin, nitrites and nitrates may cause hemoglobin abnormalities and thus central cyanosis.
Why: e.g. chilblains may cause inflammation, itching or burning sensations to the ear lobes. Often also involves lower legs and feet.
Why: e.g. eczema, psoriasis or seborrheic dermatitis may occur in the ear canal or on the ear lobe and cause itch.
Why: e.g. presence of allergic type conditions such as asthma and hay fever may suggest the possible presence of eczema in the ear canal or on the ear lobe which may cause ear itch; possible causes of Raynaud's phenomenon include rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis, polyarteritis nodosa, Buerger's disease, polycythaemia, leukemia, polymyositis , dermatomyositis; prosthetic heart valves can cause obstructive emboli.
Why: beta-blocker blood pressure medications and ergotamine can cause or aggravate Raynaud's phenomenon; potassium chlorate, sulfanilamide, phenacetin, nitrites and nitrates may cause methemoglobinemia if the person is particularly susceptible.
Why: aggravates Raynaud's phenomenon.
Why: inherited methemoglobinemia reductase enzyme deficiency.
Sometimes, other symptoms may be present and may help your doctor analyse your condition. These may include:
Why: e.g. sequential discoloration of the digits (and sometimes the ear lobes) from pallor to blueness to redness upon exposure to cold. When fingers (and ear lobes) become red they are painful.
Why: may indicate central cyanosis which is due to a lack of oxygenated hemoglobin in the blood vessels and thus may indicate hemoglobin abnormalities such as methemoglobinemia.
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