Key points for diagnosis
(1) The patient has the history of common cold before the onset.

(2) The main symptom is the sensation of fullness and obstruction. The patient often presses the tragus to relieve this sensation of fullness. Hypoacusis exists together with improved spontaneous hearing. When the patient bends the head slightly forwards or slants to the affected side, his hearing can often be improved. Some patients suffer from tinnitus. When the patient moves the head or gives a yawn and blows his nose, gurgling will appear. At the acute stage, a small number of patients suffer from slight pain inside the ear while at the chronic stage, the pain is not obvious.

(3) Examination of otic region shows otopiesis with loss of lustre, manifested as shortened and deformed cone of light or loss of cone of light; the handle of malleus moves to the posterior and superior positions with marked evagination of short process of malleus. Hydrops of the tympanic cavity can be seen, namely, a fluid level can be seen through the tympanic membrane. This indicates the existence of hydrops inside the tympanic cavity. If a small quantity of air enters the auditory tube, some small blisters can be seen through the tympanic membrane. In the case of profuse hydrops, evagination of the tympanic membrane exists and the movement of the tympanic membrane will be confined.

(4) As for audiometry, tuning fork test and pure tone hearing threshold test indicate conduction deafness.

In TCM, a disease or a symptom might be caused by one pathogenic factor, even two or three pathogenic factors. When diagnosing a disease or a symptom, TCM doctors must follow the principle of "Syndrome Dfferentiation", and then "Suit the Remedy to the Case". In order to gain a more definite and valuable diagnosis, it's important and necessary for the doctor to learn the detailed health information of the patient, including his/her disease duration, age, sex, height, weight, family history, urine, stool, diet, sleep, sweat, energy, mood (emotion), as well as the tongue conditions and the palm conditions, etc. If you would want our expert to create a TCM diagnosis, you're welcome to contact us.