In clinical practice, we often encounter patients who, by chance, have a stuffy feeling in one or both ears after catching a cold, listening to people talk like they are separated by a membrane, or feel the sound of water in their ears when they shake their heads, which is related to their posture and is more obvious when sitting or standing, but feels much better when lying down. Some people think that their ears are filled with water when they take a bath, so they stick a cotton swab into their ear canal to wipe it, but they don’t see the swab absorbing the water. In fact, this is a typical manifestation of secretory otitis media after the development of tympanic effusion. Secretory otitis media is one of the common diseases of the ear, nose and throat. It is common in children. After upper respiratory tract infection, the main symptoms are a feeling of stuffy ear and hearing loss. Since the ear pain is not obvious and children do not report it voluntarily, the diagnosis and treatment are often delayed, and by the time parents discover the problem and bring the child to the doctor, the child’s hearing is already affected. Secretory otitis media can cause hearing loss in children and affect speech and language development, and should be treated with great vigilance and promptness. In adults with unilateral lesions, the cause should be clarified as early as possible to rule out occupying tumors in the nasopharynx and surrounding spaces, to provide early relief of symptoms and improve quality of life. How can we diagnose the presence of tympanic effusion? 1. Recent hearing loss, which may vary with position changes; 2. A sense of ear stuffiness and occlusion, and the sound of water can be heard by shaking the head. The tympanic membrane is intact and amber in color, and air-fluid planes or bubbles may be seen. 3. Pure tone audiometry shows conductive or mixed deafness. 4. The acoustic conductance tympanogram is a “B” or “C” shaped curve. The tympanic membrane is amber in color, with an oblique fluid flat The tympanic membrane is amber in color, with fluid filling the entire tympanic chamber What should I do if I have a tympanic effusion? The inflammation causes edema of the tympanic chamber, eustachian tube, and mastoid mucosa, which leads to increased capillary permeability and cytoplasmic exudation, as well as increased secretion of tympanic cup cells. When a tympanic effusion is first formed, we usually use conservative medication according to the condition, such as systemic anti-inflammatory drugs and hormones to eliminate the inflammatory reaction of the tympanic chamber, eustachian tube and mastoid mucosa and reduce the effusion, and use furosemide nasal drops to shrink the nasal turbinates and try to restore the patency of the eustachian tube and promote the removal of the effusion from the eustachian tube. If, after 5-7 days of medication, ear stuffiness and closure are still very serious, tympanic membrane aspiration is feasible by using local anesthesia or tympanic membrane surface anesthesia, selecting a long needle with a short beveled tip of No. 7, piercing the tympanic chamber from below the front of the tympanic membrane under aseptic operation, and aspirating the fluid. The tympanic fluid is removed and the ear feels comfortable at once. After treatment, the tympanic fluid is reduced and the fluid level drops. The fluid disappears after the puncture and aspiration.