Risk Factors And Causes Of Earlobe Cysts

Cysts are encapsulated material occupying space within the body. These sac-like structures have clear cellular boundaries defining walls that distinctly separate them from the part of the body in which they arise. Sizes vary and their interiors may be filled with a variety of body fluids and semi-solids. When infected, the encapsulation is abscessed and becomes problematic.

Dermoid cysts arise in the earlobe’s epidermis, birthed by left-over cells residual since birth. Their make-up may include sebaceous gland or hair follicle components. Sebaceous cysts have a yellowish debris filling comprised of oils derived from triglycerides, which lubricate the skin. Rare pilar cysts may arise from hair follicles in the ear. Blood-filled cysts result with trauma to the ear.

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History Of Acne Issues

The skin is filled with pores. They allow individuals to sweat when they are hot to maintain the body’s cool 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Perspiration is provided via sweat glands, sac-like structures. Pores may clog up on the outside with dirt or environmental debris, thus preventing perspiration. Or, materials within the sweat may aggregate, plug glands and pores, and prevent perspiration. Infection may arise, with the same result. White blood cell disease-fighters within the body are dispatched to the pore, pus develops, and swelling enlarges the sweat gland, causing doming at the skin surface. Pressure within the inflamed pore at the dome causes bursting, spreading the infection to surrounding skin as the patient attempts to scratch itchy skin. Further damage may result when the pore is deemed just a pimple and is squeezed to remove infected material from the pore. Even after an infectious episode, hardened or thickened material within the damaged pore may be seen as a 'bump' on the surface or reddish blemish rising above the skin's surface, initiating a history of acne issues.

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Damaged Hair Follicles Or Oil Glands

Sweat glands are not the only channels connecting the body’s subsurface to the skin. Hair follicles have a sac structure with the hair root at its base. The hair is directed to the skin surface by cells comprising the sac’s walls. Oil glands may be independent structures or may be associated with hairs. Normally, these glands generate sebum, depositing it directly on the skin surface or indirectly by coating the shaft of hair in its sac. At the skin surface, the sebum softens and waterproofs. Damaged hair follicles or oil glands are part of a pilosebaceous unit. External or internal blockage at the hair follicle or oil gland may result from debris or infection present within the sac. Doming of the sac may result in bursting at skin level as a result of infection. Any compromised unit component may infect the whole. Units are present in most skin areas affected by acne. Epidermoid cysts are not cancerous, but they do grow as sebum swells the sac, even as infection resolves. These are technically space-occupying lesions and are not cancerous.

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Abnormal Reaction To Skin Injuries

Sebaceous glands reside within the body’s skin. When a gland is blocked in some way, the sac containing the sebum generators fills with this material, inducing swelling and bursting of that sac. Trauma may also cause sebaceous cystic formation, inducing development along the margins of the wound or within the wound itself. An abnormal reaction to skin injuries may also be seen subdermally, when trauma and bruising causes hematoma or scarring or thickening in deeper tissues. These cysts may be palpable even when not visible at the skin's surface. Earlobe piercings, for example, are common, and these little traumas may allow bacteria to enter the wound, causing infection and swelling. Earring stems, worn to keep the initial earlobe wound open until it has adequately scarred for permanent use of earrings, may cause an allergic response in the body, and cystic development may be an unexpected outcome. Allergy responses may be induced by nickel or other earring materials, by bug bites, et cetera.

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Presence of A Genetic Disorder Or Other Rare Syndrome

Gene-related cystic syndromes relate to specific genes and to their effect on normal fetal development. Branchiootorrenal syndrome involves tissues developing within the second branchial arch that do not follow normal patterns. Malformations may affect the pinna and preauricular pitting may not involve the earlobe proper. Pitting and subsequent cyst development may be sufficiently large to impact the pinna structures as the growing cyst migrates into adjacent structures. Epidermoid cysts (some genetic) show a similar pattern of potential growth, arising behind the earlobe and growing into its space. The mechanism or presence of a genetic disorder or another rare syndrome may be clouded, but sebaceous cysts do appear in families. One child in 6800 newborns will have external ear deviations. One in ten thousand will have severe external ear malformations. They tend to occur on the right side and may extend from pinna to external auditory meatus to middle ear to the cochlea and vestibular systems and to the seventh and eighth nerves. Genetic syndromes may underlie surface malformation, or the abnormality may develop spontaneously. Grading of type and degree of dysplasia has been suggested. Many genetic syndromes may cause deviant cystic-like structures.

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Genetic Component

Microtia is the generic descriptive term for outer ear phenotypic anomalies related to head and neck development. Our understanding of the genetic component mechanism is historical but also embodies information gleaned from animal models and CRISPR (technology that reprograms 'broken' DNA). Pre-auricular tags may be associated with defects in the earlobe and other components of the pinna. The pinna develops in the embryo’s first branchial arch (sixth week). It becomes identifiable later (weeks eight and nine) and is complete by the fourth month (weeks sixteen and seventeen). Genetic errors at HOXA2 appear responsible for abnormal pinna development. The actual gene mechanisms for generating surface structures when the embryo is complete are not fully understood.