Dental X-ray uncovers reason behind patient’s green ear
A dentist solved the mystery of a 20-year-old green mark on a patient’s ear.
The patient explained that he had received an ear piercing when he was 10 years old, according to a news article from People. A couple of days later, a bout of throbbing pain and bleeding caused him to abandon wearing earrings. However, part of the lobe where he had received the piercing subsequently turned green. Although a physician informed him that it was just scar tissue and assessments with other physicians over two decades resulted in the same diagnosis, the green discoloration on his ear had social ramifications, leading to questions from family, friends and acquaintances through the years. Because physicians informed him of the costs that the plastic surgery necessary to correct it would carry, the patient decided to live with the mark.
It wasn’t until he visited a new dentist for a routine cleaning that a panoramic X-ray revealed the cause of the green mark. Following the X-ray, the dental technician asked the patient if he had a piercing and showed him the image of the backing lodged inside his ear lobe.
After sharing his shock and relief to social media, the patient received viral attention from users, including a cosmetic dentist who offered to help treat the green mark with laser therapy.
A research article published in Canadian Family Physician uncovered that the receipt of earrings in young children may carry a risk of complications such as embedded earrings, keloid and hypertrophic scarring in the ear lobe, nickel-allergic contact dermatitis and auricular perichondritis. The investigators noted that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that children should only receive ear piercings when they are mature enough to employ proper hygiene techniques such as minimal handling, frequent hand washing before handling and daily cleaning with an aseptic solution. A separate study published in Aesthetic Plastic Surgery devised a color-based ranking system to visually assess keloid scarring. The researchers used four colors on the basis of framework integrity, contour distortion and visibility — with aesthetic grades including the colors black, red, orange and green.
Read more: People
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