A boy almost lost hearing thanks to a parasite sunk into his eardrum

To be fair, there is no part of your body in which you would like to find a tick tucked in for a long liquid lunch.

But if there was one place that you would really consider out of reach of a little leech, that is your eardrum.

That's exactly what the doctors discovered when a 9-year-old Connecticut boy reported a strange sound in his right ear. Yes, scathing grimacing.

You really have to ask two questions in a case like this. How did he get there? And – even more importantly – how will it come out?

According to Darius Kohan, director of the otology department at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, the ear canal is a perfect place to slip inside any scary being.

Kohan was not part of the medical team responsible for treating the patient, but he knows something about the ears and the objects that they attract.

"We think that wax in the ear attracts insects and they get stuck behind the hair in the wax or, as in this case, get into the skin or eardrum," Kohan told EJ Mundell of HealthDay.

For a tick, warm, wet conditions and protected shelter of an ear canal would be the perfect place to hide. The way this one got so far inside is a mystery, but it was probably detected while the young patient was playing outside.

Without pain or loss of hearing, the only sign that something was wrong was a buzz that persisted for several days.

After investigation, here is what the attending physician saw. Try not to cry.

(Kohan et al / New England Journal of Medicine, 2019)

For those who are not familiar with the 900 or so tick species on our planet, this one is a great example of an American dog tick, Dermacentor variabilis.

Common throughout the United States, these tiny arachnids dig mouthparts called flower heads in the skin of their host to hold tight as they yearn for a generous belly full of blood.

Most insects can be euthanized and rinsed with a good dose of hot mineral oil.

Not this guy. This capitulum fixes it, and any attempt to withdraw it will not end well, neither for the tick nor for its host.

According to the two doctors reporting on the case, David Kasle and Erik Waldman, a first attempt was made to simply snatch the small intruder from the eardrum.

"The removal of the tick with the help of an operating microscope was attempted at the office, but the tick could not be removed," their report says.

Fortunately, they have not tried everything. The membrane that makes up the eardrum is a delicate part of the biological machinery. Tearing would not cause great pain to the poor child, that would risk hearing.

Unfortunately, leaving it indoors was not an option either, risking infection and permanent damage to the eardrum.

In order to evacuate the tick, the doctors took out the big guns and prepared the young man for surgery.

"We took her to the operating room, slept her and we were able to use some really good utensils to remove the tick's head," said Kasle to Susan's channel reporter Scutti.

The tale has a happy ending for all but the brave Dermacentor variabilis. The boy was fine, with a perfectly intact eardrum and no signs of fever or rash. And the doctors had a cool story to tell their grandchildren.

Maybe not as cool as the moment when doctors found a tick stuck to a person's eyes. No, really, you do not want to watch.

Ok, if you have to. Cue more grimacing.

This research was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.