Introduction: Otitis externa, characterized by general oedema and erythema of the external auditory canal, can be treated by various modalities including aural toilet, topical antibiotic agents, with or without corticosteroids. This prospective randomized study has been undertaken to compare the efficacy of ichthammol glycerin pack with steroid antibiotic pack as the initial treatment for acute otitis externa.

Materials and Methods: A prospective randomized study was carried out on 60 patients diagnosed with acute otitis externa. The patients were randomly divided into two groups. In group A, Ichthammol glycerin pack was kept and in group B, steroid antibiotic pack was inserted. In all the patients the tragal tenderness, VAS score and edema score at the time of presentation were compared with these scores at two days follow up.

Results: It was observed that there was statistically significant decrease in the mean pain score and the edema of the external auditory canal (p< 0.001) in both group A as well as group B. Even the tragal tenderness significantly improved within 48 hrs. in both groups (p<0.001). But there was no statistically significant difference in the efficacy of both the groups compared to each other.

Conclusion: In this study, both ichthammol glycerin as well as antibiotic steroid combination proved to be effective as the initial treatment of acute otitis externa. Still we would like to recommend ichthammol glycerin pack as initial treatment as it is more cost effective with no risk of antibiotic resistance and is safe in cases of immunocompromised patients.

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Dr Jasdeep Monga

Assistant Professor

SGT Medical College, Budhera, Gurugram