Ear cancer symptoms

Ear cancer causes a variety of symptoms. Depending on the location of the tumor, you may experience:

Types of ear cancer

Ear cancer usually develops in the skin of your outer ear or ear canal (skin cancer). While skin cancer in general is the most common cancer in the United States, ear skin cancer is relatively rare. The types of ear skin cancer include:

• Basal cell carcinoma: This most common type of skin cancer grows in the basal cell layer of your ear skin, just below the surface.  Basal cell carcinoma rarely spreads to lymph nodes or other parts of the body, but it can be destructive in the area where it grows.
• Squamous cell carcinoma: This second most common type of skin cancer develops in the squamous cell layer, on the surface of your ear skin. Compared to basal cell carcinoma, it is more likely to spread to your lymph nodes.
• Melanoma: Ear melanoma develops in the cells that create color in your ear skin and can spread quickly. This skin cancer can grow on normal skin or in existing moles. It causes your skin to change color and changes the shape of existing moles.

You may have ear cancer that grows in other parts of your ear, such as the middle ear, inner ear, or temporal bone. These types of ear cancer are very rare, such as:

• Adenoid cystic carcinoma
• Ceruminous adenoma
• Rhabdomyosarcoma

In addition, cancer from nearby structures, such as the parotid gland, may spread to involve the ear.

Risk factors for ear cancer

Risk factors are things that increase your risk for ear cancer. Having one or more of these risk factors doesn’t mean that you will develop ear cancer, but it does increase your likelihood of having it.

Ear cancer risk factors include:

• Exposure to radiation
• Family history of skin cancer or other genetic conditions that increase ear cancer risk
• Frequent ear infections
• Repeated and prolonged sun exposure

Ear cancer prevention

Regular screenings for skin cancer can help catch ear cancer early and keep it from worsening. Stanford Health Care offers cancer preventive screening.

We recommend getting screened once per year if you are 50 years and older, especially if you have:

• Abnormal moles
• A history of skin cancer or precancerous tissue
• Lighter skin
• Sun damage
• Used tanning beds

We examine the skin on and around your outer ear. We also look inside your ear using a microscope, which shows us your ear canal, eardrum, and a glimpse of the middle ear. During an ear exam, your doctor may find signs of ear cancer, such as skin abnormalities or a growth inside your ear.

Ear cancer commonly causes changes to your hearing. Your doctor will do hearing tests to check for signs of hearing loss. Hearing tests look at your response to several aspects of sound, such as tone, pitch, and loudness.

If your doctor finds any suspicious growths, we will do a biopsy. This minor procedure takes a sample of tissue from the growth and analyzes it. The results will give you and your doctor more information about the abnormal growth and whether it is cancerous.

Your doctor may order imaging studies to get detailed pictures of all the structures in your ear. For example, we may do a computed tomography (CT) scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).