Ear pain and ear discomfort
At Charlottenlund Private Hospital we can quickly and effectively relieve ear pain in children and adults!
Earaches can affect both children and adults, and the resulting pain can be exceptionally severe. In fact, acute ear pain is often just as intense as a tooth abscess or other highly painful medical conditions.
Pain in or around the ear is most commonly caused by infections in either the middle ear or the ear canal. Severe ear pain is always a warning sign that something is wrong and should prompt a medical consultation—ideally directly with a specialist. While many patients naturally consult their general practitioner (GP) first, seeing an Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) specialist directly is highly recommended. Fully diagnosing ear conditions requires advanced, specialized training and specific clinical instruments—such as surgical ear microscopes, specialized microsurgical instruments, and gentle ear suction—which are typically not available at a general GP clinic. In Denmark, you do not need a referral from your GP to consult an ENT specialist.
Unfortunately, public ENT clinics often have very long waiting times, making it difficult to get an appointment quickly, even when suffering from an acute, painful, and treatable condition. To bypass these delays, many patients choose to use their private health insurance or visit Charlottenlund Privathospital as a self-paying patient to secure immediate access to expert specialist care.
At Charlottenlund Privathospital, we always maintain dedicated emergency appointments. Our permanent team of specialists is ready to promptly diagnose and treat both children and adults suffering from ear pain. We offer world-class treatment from some of Denmark's leading ENT doctors, managing a wide range of complex ear disorders on a daily basis. Whether you require a thorough diagnostic examination or rapid emergency treatment, we are here to help without delay.
We proudly accept private self-paying patients, patients covered by private health insurance, and public patients referred under the Danish Extended Free Hospital Choice (Det Udvidede Frie Sygehusvalg) scheme.
Choose Charlottenlund Private Hospital with confidence for treatment of ear pain and ear discomfort.
Our ear, nose and throat doctors have many years of experience in treating various types of acute ear disorders such as otitis externa (inflammation of the outer ear canal that typically occurs after pool holidays abroad), otitis media in children and adults and many other painful disorders - and all the specialists are updated with the latest knowledge and practice in the field through ongoing further education. In this way, we ensure that we can always offer the best treatment.
We always ensure that you create a safe space for your child and with both an operating room and anesthesia available every day, we can always offer rapid emergency procedures under both local anesthesia and general anesthesia.
Contact us if you would like an assessment or an emergency appointment for treatment of ear pain and acute ear disorders at Charlottenlund Private Hospital.
Read also about:
Chronic otitis media
Drainage in the eardrum
Tinnitus
Frequently Asked Questions
What causes ear pain?
Ear pain can be very severe and extremely disabling.
Acute otitis media
- is an infection in the middle ear, where inflammation forms and accumulates behind the eardrum, causing strong pressure on it. When the specialist looks in, there is no doubt - the eardrum is bright red, you can see yellow pus in the middle ear and the eardrum is almost inflated and about to burst. The condition is extremely painful.
Otitis externa - another very painful condition
- is an inflammation of the outer ear canal. This is typically seen in the summer months, when bacteria from, for example, dirty water in a swimming pool can cause inflammation of the ear canal. When the skin in the ear canal swells up, it closes off, causing severe pain - the pain can be so severe that you have to take morphine to relieve the pain.
How is the investigation conducted?
How to get examined when you have pain
The examination always starts with a thorough examination of the ears, which often includes a hearing test. The hearing test is not so much done to find out whether the hearing is good or bad, but more to determine where the problem that is causing the pain is located.
The hearing test is therefore always indicated regardless of whether you actually think you have hearing loss or not, as the hearing test is one of the pieces that the specialist uses to piece together the pieces and form an overview of the function of the ear and where the disease is located.
Using a large ceiling-mounted microscope, the specialist examines whether the pain is due to otitis media, foreign bodies in the ear canal, or something else entirely, until the cause of the pain is determined.
If you want to know more about the ear, you can read more about the structure of the ear at sundhed.dk.
Treatment of ear pain
After a thorough examination, the specialist will guide you on which treatment you should have and what it entails.
In some cases, treatment will consist of antibiotics and painkillers, others will need to have a drain inserted, while others will need to have the ear canal cleaned out and perhaps treated with a meche in the ear canal. Treatment varies from patient to patient - but the important thing is that you are in the hands of an experienced specialist who can most certainly start the correct treatment quickly.
We take our time to ensure that you feel well-informed throughout the process, and we always inform you about any discomfort during the treatment so that this does not come as a surprise.
Book an appointment for treatment of ear pain and discomfort
If you suffer from ear pain and discomfort and would like to be treated with us, please contact us. Our secretaries are ready to help and answer any questions you may have, as well as finding time for both a preliminary examination and surgery.