Chronic suppurative otitis media is a common disease in otology. Patients usually present with chronic ear discharge and hearing loss, some with foul-smelling pus, blood in the pus, or even white bean curd-like material in the ear. This type of otitis media involves not only the mucosa of the middle ear, but also the bone of the middle ear. More importantly, they are often prone to otogenic intracranial and extracranial complications, such as meningitis, brain abscess, apophysitis, subdural abscess, epidural abscess, sigmoid sinus thrombophlebitis, labyrinthitis, peripheral facial palsy and deep neck abscess, etc. These complications can be life-threatening. The more dangerous type is cholesteatoma otitis media, because cholesteatoma can not only destroy the auditory meatus in the middle ear and the vagus bone in the inner ear, but also easily penetrate the brain plate and invade into the skull, leading to intracranial and extracranial complications. Therefore, once cholesteatoma otitis media is diagnosed, it should be treated surgically as soon as possible to avoid intracranial and extracranial complications. There is another type of chronic otitis media, which is less dangerous and the lesion is limited to the mucosa of the middle ear without involving the bone of the middle ear. For this type of otitis media, when the inflammation is controlled, that is, after stopping the flow of pus and dry ear for 2-3 months, tympanic membrane repair surgery should be performed to avoid its development into a dangerous type of otitis media. This article is authorized by Dr. Guofang Guan.