Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsOvercleaningEnvironmentEczemaPsoriasisSeborrheic DermatitisDehydrationManagement
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Overcleaning
Environment
Eczema
Psoriasis
Seborrheic Dermatitis
Dehydration
Management
Crusty ears can be a sign of eareczemaor other skin conditions likepsoriasisandseborrheic dermatitis. Crusty ears could also be due to environmental factors, such as temperature changes or exposure to substances that triggerallergies. If an ear infection occurs, your ear can even become wet and crusty.
Treatment for dry, crusty ears depends on the cause. Crusty ears are not typically a sign of a serious condition and can usually be managed with lifestyle changes, over-the-counter (OTC) ointments or lotions, and prescription drugs.
This article explores some of the more common causes of dry, crusty ears and what you can do about them.
vitapix / Getty Images
Overcleaning Ears
Overcleaning the ear can lead to dryness as it removes skin oils andearwax(cerumen) that act as barrier protection to the delicateear canal.
If dryness persists, the skin of the ear canal can start flaking, itching, and developing little cracks. This allows even more moisture to escape, which can accumulate on the skin’s surface and crust over.
The risk of overcleaning is even greater as you get older as the production of earwax typically slows down. While it’s important to avoid theexcessive build-up of earwax, unnecessary cleaning is more likely to compromise the ear than to help it.
How Often Should Ears Be Cleaned?
Ideally, you should never clean your ears. The ears are self-cleaning and the only time they should be cleaned is when they become blocked (called cerumen impaction).
How to Safely Remove Earwax
Neveruse a cotton swab, paper clip, or any instrument to clean out the ear as this may not only push the earwax in further but also damage the ear canal and rupture theeardrum(tympanic membrane).
The ear canal is the passage that runs from theouter earto the eardrum. Its position generally provides it protection from excess moisture and exposure to the elements, but not always.
There are certain environmental factors that can compromise the skin of the ear canal and lead to dryness and crusting. These include:
Eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis, is a common skin condition in children but can affect people of all ages. It is not an allergy but is one of several atopic (allergy-related) conditions that includefood allergies, allergic rhinitis, andasthma.
Eczema is a chronic (long-lasting) inflammatory condition that can flare up occasionally, especially when you come into contact with certain skin irritants. Eczema often occurs behind the ears but can sometimes extend into the ear canal, causing dryness and cracking.
What Is the Skin Barrier?Thestratum corneumis the top part of the outermost layer of skin known as theepidermis. This roughly textured layer acts as a skin barrier in several ways. It not only traps skin oils and slows evaporation, keeping the skin soft and moist, but it also blocks bacteria, fungi, and other disease-causing organisms from entering underlying tissues.
What Is the Skin Barrier?
Thestratum corneumis the top part of the outermost layer of skin known as theepidermis. This roughly textured layer acts as a skin barrier in several ways. It not only traps skin oils and slows evaporation, keeping the skin soft and moist, but it also blocks bacteria, fungi, and other disease-causing organisms from entering underlying tissues.
What You Need to Know About Eczema in and on Your Ears
Psoriasis is anautoimmune diseasethat affects over seven million adults in the United States.It is caused when the immune system inadvertently attacks skin cells resulting ininflammation, causing them to multiply and shed at an accelerated rate.
The rapid cell turnover causes the cells to pile up on the skin’s surface, leading to scaly, itchy lesions calledplaques.
Psoriasis can affect the entire body, including the outer ear. Scratching only makes things worse, causing pain, bleeding, and crusty scabs.
How to Treat ScabsIf you havescabsdue to psoriasis, you need to avoid scratching. Doing so can introduce bacteria from under your nails into broken areas of skin, leading to askin infection.Applyingcalamine lotionto the affected skin can help. You can also try moisturizing or applying a cool, damp cloth to the skin.
How to Treat Scabs
If you havescabsdue to psoriasis, you need to avoid scratching. Doing so can introduce bacteria from under your nails into broken areas of skin, leading to askin infection.Applyingcalamine lotionto the affected skin can help. You can also try moisturizing or applying a cool, damp cloth to the skin.
If you havescabsdue to psoriasis, you need to avoid scratching. Doing so can introduce bacteria from under your nails into broken areas of skin, leading to askin infection.
Applyingcalamine lotionto the affected skin can help. You can also try moisturizing or applying a cool, damp cloth to the skin.
Ear Psoriasis Overview
Seborrheic dermatitisis a form of eczema that mainly affects the scalp, causing scaly patches of inflamed skin. Seborrheic dermatitis can also affect the face, eyebrows, eyelids, chest, sides of the nose, and ears.
When the ears are affected, the patches typically develop behind the ears. The patches can be whitish or yellowish in color and appear flaky or crusty.
Dehydrationoccurs when your intake of water is less than what your body needs to function normally. When you are dehydrated, one of the first organs affected is the skin. To conserve water for major bodily functions, the body will draw water out of the skin, causing skin cells to shrink and collapse.
This not only causes your skin to appear looser and saggy, but it can also make it feel dryer. If you are chronically dehydrated, areas of skin with the least underlying fat can become scaly, flaky, and start to crack.
Drinking plenty of water and using moisturizers are easy fixes for this common condition.
Managing Crusty Ears
The main goal of treatment is to restore moisture and reduce itching after diagnosing the cause of your crusty ears.
Typical treatments for psoriasis and eczema includetopical steroid creamsorear drops. They can be found either OTC or as a prescription.
If a fungus is to blame for your crusty ears, antifungal ear drops may be prescribed. Factors that trigger flare-ups, especially in the case of eczema, should be eliminated to help with the recovery.
Home treatment options center around keeping your ears clean and reintroducing moisture to the area. Petroleum jelly can help moisturize your ears and reduce any itching that could lead to further irritation.
If you must clean your ears, do so gently with a washcloth or tissue, and wash only the outer area of the ears.
Summary
Having crusty ears can be irritating, especially since they are often very itchy. The good news is they are not commonly associated with serious health conditions and can be treated easily.
13 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Harvard Health Publishing.3 reasons to leave earwax alone.Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care.Outer ear infection: What helps if earwax builds up?MedlinePlus.Ear wax.Khan NB, Thaver S, Govender SM.Self-ear cleaning practices and the associated risk of ear injuries and ear-related symptoms in a group of university students.J Public Health Afr.2017;8(2):555. doi:10.4081/jphia.2017.555Centers for Disease Control and Infection.Preventing swimmer’s ear.Schilder AGM, Chonmaitree T, Cripps AW, et al.Otitis media.Nat Rev Dis Primers.2016;2(1):16063. doi:10.1038/nrdp.2016.63Wessely A, Steeb T, Heppt F, et al.A critical appraisal of evidence- and consensus-based guidelines for actinic keratosis.Curr Oncol. 2021;28(1):950-960. doi:10.3390/curroncol28010093Lee JH, Son SW, Cho SH.A comprehensive review of the treatment of atopic eczema.Allergy Asthma Immunol Res.2016;8(3):181-190. doi:10.4168/aair.2016.8.3.181Elias PM, Gruber R, Crumrine D, et al.Formation and functions of the corneocyte lipid envelope (CLE).Biochim Biophys Acta.2014;1841(3):314-318. doi:10.1016/j.bbalip.2013.09.011Rachakonda TD, Schupp CW, Armstrong AW.Psoriasis prevalence among adults in the United States.J Am Acad Dermatol.2014;70(3):512-516. doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2013.11.013MedlinePlus.Psoriasis.MedlinePlus.Seborrheic dermatitis.Hooper L et al.Clinical symptoms, signs, and tests for identification of impending and current water-loss dehydration in older people.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015 Apr 30;(4):CD009647. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD009647.pub2
13 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Harvard Health Publishing.3 reasons to leave earwax alone.Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care.Outer ear infection: What helps if earwax builds up?MedlinePlus.Ear wax.Khan NB, Thaver S, Govender SM.Self-ear cleaning practices and the associated risk of ear injuries and ear-related symptoms in a group of university students.J Public Health Afr.2017;8(2):555. doi:10.4081/jphia.2017.555Centers for Disease Control and Infection.Preventing swimmer’s ear.Schilder AGM, Chonmaitree T, Cripps AW, et al.Otitis media.Nat Rev Dis Primers.2016;2(1):16063. doi:10.1038/nrdp.2016.63Wessely A, Steeb T, Heppt F, et al.A critical appraisal of evidence- and consensus-based guidelines for actinic keratosis.Curr Oncol. 2021;28(1):950-960. doi:10.3390/curroncol28010093Lee JH, Son SW, Cho SH.A comprehensive review of the treatment of atopic eczema.Allergy Asthma Immunol Res.2016;8(3):181-190. doi:10.4168/aair.2016.8.3.181Elias PM, Gruber R, Crumrine D, et al.Formation and functions of the corneocyte lipid envelope (CLE).Biochim Biophys Acta.2014;1841(3):314-318. doi:10.1016/j.bbalip.2013.09.011Rachakonda TD, Schupp CW, Armstrong AW.Psoriasis prevalence among adults in the United States.J Am Acad Dermatol.2014;70(3):512-516. doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2013.11.013MedlinePlus.Psoriasis.MedlinePlus.Seborrheic dermatitis.Hooper L et al.Clinical symptoms, signs, and tests for identification of impending and current water-loss dehydration in older people.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015 Apr 30;(4):CD009647. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD009647.pub2
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Harvard Health Publishing.3 reasons to leave earwax alone.Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care.Outer ear infection: What helps if earwax builds up?MedlinePlus.Ear wax.Khan NB, Thaver S, Govender SM.Self-ear cleaning practices and the associated risk of ear injuries and ear-related symptoms in a group of university students.J Public Health Afr.2017;8(2):555. doi:10.4081/jphia.2017.555Centers for Disease Control and Infection.Preventing swimmer’s ear.Schilder AGM, Chonmaitree T, Cripps AW, et al.Otitis media.Nat Rev Dis Primers.2016;2(1):16063. doi:10.1038/nrdp.2016.63Wessely A, Steeb T, Heppt F, et al.A critical appraisal of evidence- and consensus-based guidelines for actinic keratosis.Curr Oncol. 2021;28(1):950-960. doi:10.3390/curroncol28010093Lee JH, Son SW, Cho SH.A comprehensive review of the treatment of atopic eczema.Allergy Asthma Immunol Res.2016;8(3):181-190. doi:10.4168/aair.2016.8.3.181Elias PM, Gruber R, Crumrine D, et al.Formation and functions of the corneocyte lipid envelope (CLE).Biochim Biophys Acta.2014;1841(3):314-318. doi:10.1016/j.bbalip.2013.09.011Rachakonda TD, Schupp CW, Armstrong AW.Psoriasis prevalence among adults in the United States.J Am Acad Dermatol.2014;70(3):512-516. doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2013.11.013MedlinePlus.Psoriasis.MedlinePlus.Seborrheic dermatitis.Hooper L et al.Clinical symptoms, signs, and tests for identification of impending and current water-loss dehydration in older people.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015 Apr 30;(4):CD009647. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD009647.pub2
Harvard Health Publishing.3 reasons to leave earwax alone.
Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care.Outer ear infection: What helps if earwax builds up?
MedlinePlus.Ear wax.
Khan NB, Thaver S, Govender SM.Self-ear cleaning practices and the associated risk of ear injuries and ear-related symptoms in a group of university students.J Public Health Afr.2017;8(2):555. doi:10.4081/jphia.2017.555
Centers for Disease Control and Infection.Preventing swimmer’s ear.
Schilder AGM, Chonmaitree T, Cripps AW, et al.Otitis media.Nat Rev Dis Primers.2016;2(1):16063. doi:10.1038/nrdp.2016.63
Wessely A, Steeb T, Heppt F, et al.A critical appraisal of evidence- and consensus-based guidelines for actinic keratosis.Curr Oncol. 2021;28(1):950-960. doi:10.3390/curroncol28010093
Lee JH, Son SW, Cho SH.A comprehensive review of the treatment of atopic eczema.Allergy Asthma Immunol Res.2016;8(3):181-190. doi:10.4168/aair.2016.8.3.181
Elias PM, Gruber R, Crumrine D, et al.Formation and functions of the corneocyte lipid envelope (CLE).Biochim Biophys Acta.2014;1841(3):314-318. doi:10.1016/j.bbalip.2013.09.011
Rachakonda TD, Schupp CW, Armstrong AW.Psoriasis prevalence among adults in the United States.J Am Acad Dermatol.2014;70(3):512-516. doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2013.11.013
MedlinePlus.Psoriasis.
MedlinePlus.Seborrheic dermatitis.
Hooper L et al.Clinical symptoms, signs, and tests for identification of impending and current water-loss dehydration in older people.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015 Apr 30;(4):CD009647. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD009647.pub2
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