Ear

  • Middle ear infections (otitis media)
  • Outer ear infections
  • Hearing difficulties
  • Leaking ears
  • Glue ear
  • Swimmers ear
  • Cholesteatoma (skin cells growing in the ear)
  • Prominent ears
  • Swelling around ears
  • Painful ears (otalgia)
  • Abnormal sounds in ears (tinnitus)
  • Foreign bodies (kids hey.. wink wink)

  • Congenital abnormalities

Nose

  • Blocked nose (in anyone younger than 16, including newborns)
  • Snoring
  • Sleep apnoea
  • Bleeding noses
  • Blocked tearducts
  • Growths on noses
  • Runny noses
  • Allergies
  • Polyps
  • Dermoids
  • Haemangiomas
  • Foreign bodies (kids hey.. wink wink)

Throat

  • Tonsillitis
  • Pharyngitis
  • Reflux
  • Swallowing difficulties/feeding problems
  • Choking
  • Any growths in throat
  • Swallowing foreign bodies (toys, coins, sticks … you know how kids are!)
  • Excessive drooling
  • Tongue ties
  • Excessive drooling

Breathing

  • Croup (specifically recurrent croup or atypical)
  • Laryngomalacia (floppy voice box) – babies have very high pitched breathing noises
  • Snoring and sleep apnoea 
  • Stridor
  • Inhaled foreign bodies
  • Any airway abnormalities

Neck

  • Cysts
  • Growths
  • Swellings
  • Sinuses/small pits or openings in skin
  • Voice problems
  • Any difficulty speaking
  • Laryngitis
  • Hoarseness

Patients I like to see

(as a way to predict future problems)

  • Downs syndrome
  • DiGeorge syndrome
  • Babies with cardiac problems (particularly if they are going for surgery)
  • Cleft palate babies
  • Pierre-Robin sequence (as part of cleft palate)

Emergencies

  • Difficulty breathing
  • Bleeding nose/throat
  • Swelling around eyes/ears
  • Rapidly enlarging neck masses
  • Foreign bodies in noses (ears can be seen as semi-urgent)
  • Apnoea’s (semi-urgent)
  • Difficulty breathing and not growing well (semi-urgent)