ABSTRACT
Foreign bodies are placed in the ear canal by children and sometimes by adults, particularly when objects such as the tips of cotton wool swabs are inadvertently lost in the meatus. Children place a wide variety of things in the ear including stones, plastic beads, pieces of Plasticine, indiarubber, etc. All foreign bodies can be successfully removed from the ear canal, but doing so may require special skill and instrumentation, and particularly in children it may require a general anaesthetic. The ear canal and the outer surface of the tympanic membrane are sensitive structures, and it may be quite impossible to obtain the co-operation of a child for removal of a foreign body for this reason.
