Boric acid and boric alcohol: use in otitis media

How often, in search of effective treatment, do we resort to expensive drugs, undeservedly pushing time-tested budget drugs into the background. This happened with boric acid, and boric acid and boric alcohol for otitis were used by our grandparents, when expensive innovative drugs were not even in sight.

Let's not belittle the merits of modern antiseptics, which are mostly safer than boric acid. But if there is no choice, and it is necessary to treat inflammation in the ear to avoid hearing loss and dangerous complications in nearby organs, boric acid preparations with a serious approach to treatment can provide an invaluable service.

Treatment of otitis with boric acid

When discomfort and pain in the ear appear, this always indicates a pathological process in one of the areas of the hearing organ. If the inflammation is localized in the area of the auricle or at the entrance to the ear (in the external auditory canal, including the eardrum), they talk about an external type of otitis, the diagnosis and treatment of which do not present any particular difficulties. Treatment of this form of otitis is not much different from the therapy of a furuncle in the ear, and many do not take this pathology seriously, although there is no guarantee that the inflammation will not spread deep into the ear.

It's a different matter if the inflammatory process develops deep inside the ear and is not visible to the naked eye. We are talking about inflammation of the middle ear, which we are accustomed to calling otitis. Severe excruciating pain in the ear will force you to visit an otolaryngologist whether you want it or not. And this is right, since self-treatment of otitis media in many cases ended badly: someone began to hear worse, others said goodbye to the ability to distinguish sounds forever, and still others had to subsequently treat sinusitis, meningitis, encephalitis and other inflammatory pathologies, which are a common complication of otitis.

As we can see, no matter what form the inflammation takes and where it is localized, it is extremely problematic to overcome the disease without effective treatment. And without antimicrobial drugs, the inflammatory process in the ear is unlikely to be cured, because it is almost always accompanied by the release of exudate, which is a nutrient medium for bacteria, or pus, which already contains a bacterial factor.

In case of non-bacterial nature of the inflammatory process, the use of effective antiseptics, such as boric acid and boric alcohol for otitis will help to avoid complications of the disease due to the addition of a bacterial or fungal infection. And if the inflammation is caused by pathogenic microorganisms, external use of antimicrobial agents will help to avoid the spread of infection in the inflammation site.

It is clear that when treating inflammatory pathology of the middle ear, external agents such as boric alcohol do not seem so effective, because they cannot get into the inflammation center (the ear cavity behind the eardrum, mastoid process, Eustachian tube). In this case, systemic antibiotic therapy is more effective. However, doctors do not forget about local treatment, which is carried out by washing the external auditory canal with boric alcohol, as well as using compresses with it.

Such treatment with boric acid and boric alcohol is possible for both external and middle otitis, accompanied by the release of exudate (exudative form of otitis) or pus (purulent form of pathology), but only if there is no deformation of the eardrum, which will be evidenced by the release of pus to the outside. The fact is that the penetration of ethanol (and boric alcohol consists of 97% of it, and 3% is crystalline boric acid) behind the eardrum is fraught with a burn of delicate tissues inside the auditory tube. It is unlikely that the burn will help reduce inflammation, rather, on the contrary, it will aggravate it.

But the thing is that if the perforation of the eardrum is small, the pus may not flow out at all. How can you then find out whether there is a hole in the eardrum through which boric alcohol can get into the auditory tube or not? Only a specialist doctor, i.e. an otolaryngologist, can say this after a thorough examination using special instruments. You should never diagnose or prescribe treatment for yourself.

It is also important to remember that boric acid and boric alcohol used for otitis are considered highly toxic substances, which means that their use is not so safe. Maybe that is why the question of whether boric alcohol can be used to treat ears with otitis is so often asked on the Internet? With a cautious approach to treatment, which involves strict adherence to the doctor's requirements and prescriptions, boric acid preparations will not harm your health, but will help cope with inflammation.

But for the prevention of otitis in children prone to inflammatory pathologies in the middle ear, boric alcohol is not recommended. This question arises for parents due to the fact that a common runny nose very often leads to otitis in children if it is not effectively treated. But in this case, it is more appropriate to treat the runny nose (although this is not so easy if the child attends kindergarten) than to carry out prevention with a toxic substance, the long-term use of which is fraught with the occurrence of unpleasant and dangerous symptoms.

But why is boric alcohol so valuable in the treatment of ENT organs, and in particular the hearing organs? This excellent antiseptic helps fight not only bacteria, but also various types of fungal flora (mold and yeast fungi).

The beneficial effects of boric acid-based preparations include:

• Antiseptic effect associated with the prevention of the spread of bacterial infection in the ENT organs.
• Antimicrobial effect, i.e. destruction of pathogenic bacteria by destroying their cellular structures.
• Insecticidal action, due to the destruction of insects that can accidentally get into the ear, and removing them from there can be very problematic.
• Antifungal action, i.e. combating various types of fungal infections and preventing their spread

In addition, treatment with boric alcohol is an excellent preventative measure against fungal infections in the future. That is, such treatment gives a longer-lasting effect than the use of weak antiseptics, although it is less safe.

Boric acid or boric alcohol?

When it comes to treating otitis with boric acid preparations, two names are constantly mentioned in recommendations and instructions: boric acid itself and boric alcohol. Let's figure out what we are actually talking about, completely different preparations or different forms of one medicine.

If you ask for boric acid at a pharmacy, the pharmacist will definitely ask whether it is in powder or in the form of an alcohol solution. It turns out that boric alcohol is the same boric acid dissolved in alcohol, and both dosage forms can be used for otitis. By the way, the pharmacy name of the drug is still boric acid, and it began to be called boric alcohol to distinguish between the powder and the liquid form of the antiseptic.

The powder preparation is crystallized orthoboric acid, which is an excellent antiseptic. It is not used in medicine in its pure form. To treat inflammatory pathologies of the hearing organs, boric acid is diluted with water or alcohol. The ideal content of boric acid in a solution for treating otitis is 3%. A lower concentration will not give a pronounced antiseptic effect (for example, in a pharmacy, an alcohol solution of boric acid, also known as boric alcohol, can be offered with an active substance concentration of 0.5 to 3%). And high doses of boric acid can cause irreparable harm to human health due to high ototoxicity.

A medicinal solution based on water or alcohol can be prepared at home. To do this, 6 g (1 heaped teaspoon) of boric acid is mixed in 180 g (not a full glass) of water or alcohol. The aqueous solution seems less aggressive, but boric acid in alcohol acts faster and more effectively, so it is preferable to make the medicine on an alcohol basis.

It is important to understand that with this method of preparing a medicinal composition, it is very difficult to maintain the correct proportions, and this is what the effectiveness and safety of the prepared solution depends on. And the question arises, what kind of alcohol to use?

The pharmaceutical preparation popularly called boric alcohol uses 70% ethanol. Vodka, which is used to prepare various tinctures according to folk recipes, has a strength of about 40 degrees (approximately 40% alcohol) and often some unnecessary additives, and purified medical alcohol sold in pharmacies usually has 96% ethanol. Whether such substances are suitable for preparing a medicinal composition remains a question.

But in order not to bother yourself and to protect those who will have to be treated with a boric acid-based medicine, doctors recommend purchasing a pharmacy version of the medicine, which is also not expensive at all. In such a drug, all proportions are observed and there are no additional components that could negatively affect the results of treatment. And if it is used strictly as prescribed by the doctor, the result of the treatment will be very worthy.

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Indications of boric alcohol for otitis media

It should be said that in the last decade, boric alcohol was used quite actively by both folk healers and doctors, who themselves actively offered patients procedures with this strong antiseptic. Today, the situation has changed somewhat. The identified toxic effect of the drug has somewhat narrowed the range of its use and the number of admirers.

And yet, with a greater degree of caution, boric acid diluted in water continues to be used in ophthalmology for the treatment of inflammatory eye diseases (for example, in the treatment of conjunctivitis). The drug has also found its application in dermatology. With its help, the condition of patients with skin inflammations - dermatitis - is alleviated.

In ENT practice, boric acid and boric alcohol are still used for otitis. The antiseptic is effective for both external otitis and inflammation of the middle ear, occurring in acute or chronic form.

But if previously they only practiced instilling medicine into the ear, now it is used to wash the ears, cotton swabs (turundas) soaked in the solution are inserted, and compresses with boric acid are applied.

Boric acid can be used for otitis externa without any special restrictions. If the inflammation is localized on the auricle, the affected area can be wiped with a cotton swab soaked in boric alcohol or compresses with the medicine can be made. If the inflammation, accompanied by the release of exudate, is determined inside the ear canal, effective procedures will be ear rinsing, as well as instillation of boric alcohol into the ear.

Boric alcohol can be instilled into the ear for otitis media only if you are absolutely sure that the eardrum is not damaged. For inflammation of the middle ear without suppuration, the doctor may recommend warming compresses with boric acid, placing cotton and gauze swabs soaked in a solution of boric acid in the ear, and ear drops.

In addition to otitis, otolaryngologists use boric acid to treat boils in the external auditory canal (since inflammation of the hair follicle is in most cases associated with a staphylococcal infection) and a fungal pathology called otomycosis (boric acid has some antifungal activity).

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Pharmacodynamics

Boric acid and boric alcohol, which have long been used for otitis and some other inflammatory pathologies, are considered amazing antiseptics, because they act simultaneously as an antibacterial and antifungal agent. In addition, the drug is characterized by an astringent effect, which promotes skin regeneration and healing of microdamage.

The cell membrane of bacteria consists of protein. Under the influence of boric alcohol or acid, the process of protein coagulation occurs, which worsens the permeability of the bacterial cell membrane for nutrients. Bacteria gradually weaken and die.

Antibiotics and antiseptics, as a rule, do not have a selective effect, so their use is associated with a violation of the microflora at the site of application. Very often, on this basis, especially after the use of antibiotics, fungal flora begins to activate. The use of boric alcohol as an antiseptic helps not only to defeat the bacterial factor, but also to prevent subsequent reproduction and growth of fungi.

There is an opinion that if boric acid is added to an ointment and rubbed into the scalp, it can also eliminate dandruff (a type of fungus) and lice. So boric acid also has some anti-pediculosis action. By the way, there is also such a medicinal form as a five-percent boric ointment, which is used as a remedy for external parasites.

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Pharmacokinetics

Skin and mucous membranes are not an obstacle for boric acid, which very easily and quickly penetrates through such barriers and enters the bloodstream. However, the substance is excreted from the body very slowly, which means that it can accumulate in various liquid and solid biological environments.

In connection with the above, one must be very careful with boric acid preparations, since exceeding the dose and long-term treatment can provoke toxic reactions and damage to the kidneys involved in the excretion of the drug, and the use of high concentrations of the solution can cause tissue burns.

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Dosing and administration

Previously, when otolaryngology did not have a sufficient variety of effective antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory agents and the negative impact of boric acid on the human body was not yet known, it was used everywhere to treat various types of otitis, conjunctivitis, dermatitis as an independent drug. Today, there are many effective drugs with a specific effect that are used by doctors as the main treatment.

The use of boric acid and boric alcohol for otitis now has a rather fixing and preventive effect. Boric acid preparations can be used both as part of complex therapy and after treatment with other drugs.

It is clear that in the absence of other effective drugs, boric alcohol can be used as a monotherapy and at the very beginning of treatment, in order to prevent inflammation from becoming chronic and spreading further into the body, for example, to the meninges. But if possible, such treatment should be supplemented with more modern and effective antimicrobial agents, especially when it comes to otitis media, which is very problematic to cure with boric alcohol alone.

The uses of boric acid for otitis are quite varied: ear drops, rinsing the ear canal, ear tamponade, warming compresses with boric acid.

Ear drops. For these purposes, it is recommended to use a pharmacy three-percent solution of boric alcohol in its pure form. Instillation of drops provides a faster antimicrobial effect, but it is contraindicated in case of perforation of the eardrum, due to which the liquid can flow into the auditory tube and cause even more tissue inflammation.

To drip the solution into the ear, use a regular pipette. The alcohol should not be cold, but you should not heat it over a fire either. The ideal option is to warm the pipette with the solution in your hands for a few minutes.

Before inserting the medicine into the ear canal, the ear must be thoroughly cleaned with a cotton swab to remove wax and dust that has gotten into it. It is impossible to clean the ear well with a dry cotton swab, so it is recommended to first moisten it in a solution of hydrogen peroxide. Or better yet, put 2-3 drops of a cleaning agent (hydrogen peroxide or distilled water) into the ear and thoroughly treat the wet skin with a cotton swab.

After the ear is cleaned, it needs to be blotted from the remaining moisture with a twisted gauze swab and a cotton pad. Now you can start instilling the medicine, i.e. boric alcohol. During the procedure, tilt your head so that the sore ear is at the top. Using a pipette, inject 3 to 5 drops of boric acid in alcohol into it and wait 10-12 minutes, then tilt your head to the other side. So that the medicine can flow out. Once again, blot the skin outside and inside the ear, and then cover the entrance to the ear with a small cotton swab, blocking the entrance to the ear of dust and bacteria.

Manufacturers of the drug recommend instilling boric alcohol or boric acid in the ear in the form of an aqueous solution for 3-5 days (but doctors often allow increasing the treatment time to 10 days). The procedure should be carried out 2-4 times a day. After 5 days from the start of treatment, you can switch to a single injection of the drug into the ear at night.

If the drops are given to a child, the effective and safe dose will be 3-4 drops; for an adult, the dosage can be increased to 5 drops.

When putting alcohol in your ears, you need to monitor your sensations. Usually, the discomfort caused by the solution lasts no more than 10 minutes; if the unpleasant feeling continues, you need to consult an ENT specialist about the possibility of continuing treatment with boric acid.

Washing the ear canal. A 2% solution of boric acid is most often used to wash the ear. A warm antiseptic solution based on alcohol or water is injected into the cleaned ear using a pipette. Then, using a syringe, warm water or another disinfectant solution is poured into the ear in the amount of 150 ml. When instilling the drops, the head should be tilted in the opposite direction from the sore ear, and when washing, it should be kept in a vertical position so that the liquid can flow freely from the ear.

Rinsing should not be done under pressure. Water should not exert strong pressure on the inflamed eardrum.

This procedure is useful for removing exudate and pus from the ear. An experienced specialist in a clinical setting can perform it even with a perforated eardrum with purulent discharge. Non-aggressive disinfectants are used.

After the procedure, doctors recommend drying the ear with a bandage or cotton swab and lightly powdering it with talc. The entrance to the ear can be closed with cotton wool only if there is no purulent discharge.

Cotton swabs and turundas. Well, with cotton swabs everything is usually clear. It is a regular piece of cotton wool, adjusted to the size of the ear canal. But not everyone knows what a turunda is. And it is just a piece of gauze, bandage or the same cotton wool, rolled into a not very tight tourniquet.

A cotton swab or turunda is soaked in warm boric acid in the form of a solution, slightly squeezed out and placed in the ear to such a depth as not to damage the eardrum. The entrance to the ear is covered with dry cotton wool from above. Thus, the procedure has not only an effective antibacterial effect, but also a warming effect.

The use of turundas and tampons with boric acid does not limit the patient's movements, as is the case with instillation of drops. There is no need to lie on one side for 10-15 minutes so that the liquid does not accidentally flow out of the ear. Turundas can be used briefly 2-3 times a day or laid for several hours at once (for example, all night), as prescribed by the attending physician.

The insertion of turundas into the ear is most often used to treat a boil inside the ear, but the procedure will also be useful for exudative otitis (warming procedures are excluded for purulent otitis).

Compresses. This procedure is recommended for inflammation of the middle ear, which is not purulent in nature, because a compress with 3% boric alcohol (the most effective form of release in this case) has a warming effect. It would seem, why warm the ear during inflammation, especially if the process is localized deep inside the organ behind the eardrum? But this makes a certain sense.

External agents can affect the processes occurring inside the body in two ways: penetrate the blood and tissues of the organ or provide a local increase in temperature, leading to an increase in the number of protective cells produced by the body itself. Thus, the drug stimulates the body's own defenses to fight the bacterial factor and inflammatory agents. It turns out that the use of warming compresses with boric acid provides both functions of the drug, as a result of which the pain goes away, the inflammation decreases and the damaged tissues inside the ear heal.

In order to apply a compress for otitis with boric acid correctly, you need to know some rules for performing this procedure:

A compress can only be applied as prescribed by a doctor if the patient is experiencing severe pain in the ear.

This type of treatment should not be used frequently, since warming procedures for acute inflammatory reactions can complicate the situation.

When applying a compress, it is necessary to protect the skin from burns, but not with protective creams, but by applying a dry natural material between the fabric soaked in a solution of boric acid.

For the compress itself, you need to prepare in advance: cotton fabric (10x10 cm or slightly larger) with a 6-7 cm cut in the middle, a second piece of fabric or gauze folded in several layers with the same cut, a piece of polyethylene film or compress paper slightly larger. The film should completely cover the wet fabric, preventing it from cooling, and have a cut in the center. Do not forget about cotton wool and boric alcohol, heated to a warm state.

First, a protective cloth is placed on the ear, with the auricle being brought out through the incision. Then, gauze soaked in warm alcohol and slightly wrung out, folded in 3-4 layers, is placed on top of the cloth. The ear should again remain outside. A film is placed on top of the gauze, the ear is freed, a thin layer of cotton wool is placed on top of it, and the compress is fixed with a bandage or scarf.

It is recommended to leave the compress on the ear for 2 hours, but a single application of the procedure at night is also allowed. In this case, you need to make sure that the compress does not cool down on the body.

Turundas and compresses are allowed to be used even in case of perforation of the eardrum. However, it is safer to carry out the procedure in such a pathology in a hospital setting. In this case, it is only important to exclude a purulent process, in which case heat on the ear is prohibited.

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Contraindications

Boric acid and boric alcohol, as it turns out, are quite toxic substances, so before you start using them for otitis or other pathologies noted in the indications for use, you need to carefully study in which cases the prescription of the drug is considered undesirable and dangerous.

The instructions for the drug state that it cannot be used in case of intolerance to the active substance or auxiliary components of the drug, as well as if the patient has been diagnosed with severe kidney pathologies characterized by impaired organ function.

According to the same instructions, the use of boric acid in childhood is also limited (intended for patients from 15 years old), which is due to the ease of penetration of a highly toxic substance into the body through the delicate thin skin of a child. However, doctors have a different opinion regarding the use of boric alcohol in childhood, believing that with careful use, the benefit of the drug significantly outweighs the harm, therefore, boric acid for otitis in children can be prescribed from the age of one year.

When using the drug for inflammation of the outer or middle ear, it is important to remember that boric alcohol is not used for purulent otitis because alcohol always has a warming effect, which is undesirable when pus is released. This applies to both external and middle otitis. If middle otitis is also accompanied by a violation of the integrity of the eardrum (even if the hole is small), the use of boric alcohol is also fraught with a burn of the tissues inside the auditory tube. In this case, the choice of treatment methods must be approached especially carefully, because deformation of the eardrum over a long period of time will lead to hearing loss.

The use of the drug during pregnancy is also considered extremely undesirable, after all, toxic substances, penetrating the tissues and blood of the mother, can also get into the body of the fetus maturing in her womb, and this can negatively affect the intrauterine development of the child. Treatment with boric alcohol and boric acid is especially dangerous in the early stages of pregnancy, but in subsequent periods, you can always find effective antiseptics for otitis with a safer effect.

When breastfeeding, it is prohibited to use boric alcohol to disinfect the mammary glands, and other methods of using the drug are fraught with the penetration of the active substance into the body's liquid environments, including breast milk. Applying boric acid to large areas of skin and mucous membranes is also considered unsafe, because the larger the area of the treated surface, the more toxic substance enters the body.

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Side effects of boric alcohol for otitis media

Side effects of the drug are observed mainly against the background of an overdose of the drug, caused by the penetration of a significant amount of the active substance into the body over a long period of time. With the right treatment, the only unpleasant symptom may be dryness or irritation of the skin and mucous membranes at the site of application of alcohol. Some patients note the appearance of skin reactions (burning, itching, tingling), as well as peeling of the skin (the top layer of the epithelium comes off) at the site of application of the drug.

In rare cases, instillation of boric alcohol into the ears leads to severe ear pain and dizziness. In this case, the ear is washed and an otolaryngologist is consulted, who will review the prescription of medications.

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Overdose

Overdose is fraught with the development of an extensive symptom complex, including not local, but acute and chronic systemic reactions. Most often in this case, reactions from the gastrointestinal tract are observed: a person begins to suffer from nausea, sometimes there is an urge to vomit, the stool becomes more frequent and liquid (diarrhea).

Toxic effects on the kidneys, especially if there have been problems with this organ of the excretory system before, manifest themselves in the form of a decrease in the volume of urine excreted per day. This phenomenon is called oliguria.

In more severe cases of overdose, the patient may experience seizures and confusion. Failure to provide assistance or continued use of the drug may result in toxic shock.

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Interactions with other drugs

Otitis can be cured with boric alcohol alone only in cases of mild inflammation of the outer ear. In most cases, otitis treatment requires the use of more serious antibacterial drugs, painkillers from the category of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, vasoconstrictors (for a runny nose, which is an invariable companion of otitis in children), antihistamines. Not to mention specialized ear drops that relieve inflammation and pain in the organ of hearing (Otipax, Anauran, Otizol, Holikaps, etc.) and containing antibiotics (Tsipromed, Otof, Normax).

Such complex treatment will help to quickly defeat the disease and will not give a chance to bacteria capable of causing various complications. But what to do if there is no opportunity to buy effective expensive drugs? Most likely, make an audit in the home medicine cabinet and find the following drugs there: tablets "Spreptocide", ointment "Levomekol", hydrogen peroxide, tablets "Furacillin" or a ready-made alcohol solution of the drug with an antiseptic content of 0.1%, alcohol, glycerin, camphor oil.

In principle, almost any of the above-mentioned drugs can be found at home, because their use is not limited to ear treatment. This means that there should be no problems with drugs, especially since all these are inexpensive drugs that can be used more than once, so it is still worth buying them.

Some treatment options may seem a little strange, if only because they are not used for humans. Thus, the treatment of purulent otitis with streptocide and boric alcohol has found wide application in veterinary medicine. If the inflammation in the external auditory canal occurs with the formation of wounds and pus, the cavity inside the ear to the eardrum is carefully cleaned with an ear stick soaked in an alcohol solution of boric acid, and then sprinkled with streptocide antiseptic powder.

Treatment with boric alcohol alone is impossible due to the fact that this medicine is very toxic and has an irritating effect on the skin. But if you alternate boric alcohol and camphor oil for otitis, which has the same effects (pain relief and disinfection), you can reduce the negative impact of boric acid on the body without reducing the effectiveness of treatment.

Camphor oil, like boric alcohol and boric acid for otitis, can be used for ear drops and soaking turundas. No less effective are warming compresses with camphor oil, which can easily be left overnight, because the oil is able to retain heat for a long time. However, this treatment is not suitable for purulent otitis.

However, in case of chronic purulent otitis, a strong antiseptic "Furacilin" has a good effect; its tablets are used to prepare an aqueous solution. ½ tablet of the antiseptic is dissolved in 50 ml of hot water, the solution is cooled to a warm state and used to soak turundas and cotton swabs. Treatment is recommended to be carried out 2 times a day, after cleaning the ear canal with boric alcohol.

As an inexpensive, effective and fairly safe antibiotic, you can use the wound-healing ointment "Levomekol" (at least, this use of the ointment is much more familiar to us). Not everyone knows that this useful ointment has been used for a very long time in the treatment of otitis. Until new modern drugs appeared, "Levomekol" and boric acid were the main drugs that helped relieve pain, inflammation and ensure the regeneration of tissues of the hearing organ.

How is Levomekol useful for otitis? First of all, its composition, which provides beneficial properties. The drug contains the antibiotic levomycetin, which means that the fight against the bacterial component is ensured. The antibiotic is effective against staphylococcal, streptococcal, pneumococcal infections, E. coli and some types of viruses. When used externally, this toxic antibiotic has only a local effect, practically not absorbed into the blood, which allows the ointment to be used to treat children and pregnant women.

The second equally important active ingredient of the multicomponent drug is methyluracil, which helps to trigger regenerative processes. Thanks to it, the drug has a wound-healing effect. But that's not all. Methyluracil stimulates the synthesis of human interferon, the main component in the fight against viruses and bacteria, i.e. it increases local and general immunity.

Additional components of the drug also provide some benefit. Thus, ethylene glycol in the drug is able to absorb pus, which makes the drug effective for purulent otitis.

Levomekol ointment can be successfully used in combination with boric alcohol, which does not have any dangerous interactions with other drugs. In this case, boric alcohol is recommended for cleaning the ear cavity before inserting a turunda with ointment. In principle, Levomekol can be simply applied in a thin layer to the inflamed areas of the ear twice a day using an ear stick, after first treating the surface with an antiseptic in the form of boric alcohol.

It is important to remember that the effectiveness of otitis treatment depends not only on the type of medication used, but also on their quality. And the quality of medications depends on the conditions in which they were stored. In pharmacies, the pharmacists themselves strictly monitor the storage conditions of drugs, but at home this already becomes our responsibility.

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Storage conditions

Firstly, in order for the drug in the form of an alcohol solution to last a long time, you need to keep the bottle closed so that the alcohol does not evaporate. Secondly, the manufacturer states that the storage temperature of the drug should not be higher than 15 and not lower than 8 degrees. Probably, this figure is not taken out of thin air, and under such conditions the drug can be stored for a long time without losing its beneficial properties.

Shelf life

For example, boric alcohol and boric acid used for otitis do not have a specific shelf life. That is, the drug retains its properties for a very long time. But this does not mean that storage conditions should not be observed.

Reviews of treatment of otitis with boric acid

Despite all the passions that are written about boric acid, referring to its toxicity, many people continue to successfully use an inexpensive but effective medicine for otitis and ear pain. Moreover, in most reviews you can find a statement that boric acid or boric alcohol helped to cope with pain and inflammation much faster and better than expensive drugs prescribed for inflammation of the middle ear.

There are almost no mentions of the drug's side effects, which means that the drug is well tolerated by most patients. Unpleasant symptoms during the use of the drug, if possible, are very rare.

The positive qualities of boric acid in the form of an alcohol solution are considered by buyers to be the low price of such a good antiseptic and its high efficiency in relieving severe pain, although the drug itself does not belong to the category of painkillers. Many write that 1-2 applications are enough to eliminate shooting pains in the ear, so long-term use, fraught with toxic effects, is not required at all.

Most of those who left a review about boric alcohol always have this drug in their medicine cabinet, because in addition to otitis, it is used to treat acne and pimples, to combat conjunctivitis and skin pathologies, to treat the skin before injections, to disinfect and quickly heal small cuts, etc. And no one is particularly worried about the toxicity of the drug, because the content of boric acid in the liquid form of the drug is small and is unlikely to cause serious consequences.

Apparently, doctors who prescribe boric alcohol to small children share the same opinion. And although the instructions for use indicate an acceptable age of 15 years, many pediatricians successfully prescribe such treatment to children aged two and older. The main thing is that the treatment is carried out after consultation with a specialist doctor who will determine whether there is damage to the eardrum and what form the otitis is taking. Only then can we talk not only about effective, but also about safe methods of treatment with boric alcohol. However, this applies not only to boric acid preparations.

Boric acid and boric alcohol for otitis are a method recognized by many generations for quickly getting rid of pain and inflammation. And although these drugs cause a lot of controversy today, time-tested experience will not allow effective means to be pushed into the background. Unless boric acid, as an economically unprofitable drug, will be removed from production, as has already been done more than once with other effective budget drugs.