{"id":3946,"date":"2022-05-03T11:47:20","date_gmt":"2022-05-03T10:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/guidelines\/foreignbodiesinearornosepaeds\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T15:27:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T14:27:26","slug":"foreignbodiesinearornosepaeds","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/guidelines\/paediatrics\/paediatric-ent\/foreignbodiesinearornosepaeds\/","title":{"rendered":"Foreign Bodies in Ear or Nose"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Children, particularly aged under 3, have a tendency to hide foreign objects in their noses or ears. If this happens to older kids, behavioral problems should be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Often a foreign body will not be immediately apparent as they can be inert and might only be detected at routine ear inspection. Nasal foreign bodies often declare themselves with unilateral foul-smelling discharge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Urgent intervention is required if the foreign body is a button battery as this can be immensely destructive.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Less urgent are organic materials but they can be irritating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>C.M., A.G &amp; G.T. &#8211; 12-10-26<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs\" data-active-tab=\"0\"><ul class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-links\"><\/ul>\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-link\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title-wrapper\"><a href=\"#\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title\">Referral Guidelines<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Discuss with on call team:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Emergency: button batteries<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Urgent: organic material<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ears: often incidental finding<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nose: foul smelling unilateral nasal discharge<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The on-call team will consider review and further appropriate management.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-link\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title-wrapper\"><a href=\"#\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title\">Primary Care Management<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fresh nasal foreign bodies can often be dislodged using the \u2018mother\u2019s kiss\u2019. This works in about 60% of cases and even if not entirely successful might dislodge the foreign body enough to facilitate removal.&nbsp; To perform this, the parent places their mouth around the child\u2019s open mouth, occludes the nostril without the foreign body and blows into the child\u2019s mouth. Gently at first until resistance is encountered (child\u2019s glottis closes), then short, sharp puffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Inert ear foreign bodies can often be removed by gentle syringing in the practice. If the foreign body is a living insect, oil instillation will suffocate and kill them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not all foreign bodies, particularly in ears, need to be removed. Small, inert foreign bodies, for example plastic beads, often migrate out of the ear with wax or during water exposure (swimming, bathing, shower).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-link\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title-wrapper\"><a href=\"#\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title\">Resources and Links<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Children, particularly aged under 3, have a tendency to hide foreign objects in their noses or ears. If this happens to older kids, behavioral problems should be considered. Often a foreign body will not be immediately apparent as they can be inert and might only be detected at routine ear inspection. Nasal foreign bodies often<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":4246,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[171],"class_list":["post-3946","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-foreignbodiespaeds"],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"NHS Lothian","author_link":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/author\/nhs-lothian\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":" <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/category\/entpaediatric\/foreignbodiespaeds\/\" rel=\"tag\">Foreign Bodies Ear Nose (Paeds)<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Children, particularly aged under 3, have a tendency to hide foreign objects in their noses or ears. If this happens to older kids, behavioral problems should be considered. Often a foreign body will not be immediately apparent as they can be inert and might only be detected at routine ear inspection. Nasal foreign bodies often","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3946"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30391,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3946\/revisions\/30391"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}