Monday morning is not the busiest time for Professor Li Yong, director of the Department of Otolaryngology at City No. 1 Hospital, but there is still an increase in the number of patients once the clinic opens. Recently, Professor Li made a discovery that more than 30% of the children in his clinic are suffering from otitis media. The symptoms of otitis media in children, such as ear pain, stuffy ears and loud TV (a sign of hearing loss), are ignored by many parents. 9-year-old Tong Tong, a second-grade student, has been so distracted in class lately that she didn’t hear the teacher when she was asked to answer a question. She was diagnosed with secretory otitis media, a type of otitis media that does not cause pus and ear pain, but can lead to hearing loss in children. Children often delay treatment because of their poor expressive skills. The most common causes of secretory otitis media in children are upper respiratory tract infections, sinusitis, ……. There is also an acute form of otitis media associated with a high incidence of upper respiratory infections in winter, and after a cold, most people have a runny nose. The eustachian tube, which is connected to the middle ear in children, is short and flat, and nasal infections are more likely to cause middle ear infections. During this period, if the patient blows his nose in an incorrect way, such as pinching his nostrils tightly with his fingers on both sides, it is possible for the bacteria in the nose to enter the middle ear through the eustachian tube, the channel between the ear and nose, leading to otitis media. It is important to know the correct way to blow the nose in order to prevent otitis media. First, let your child inhale deeply, use a handkerchief to gently press one nostril, tilt the head slightly toward the side where the hand is pressing the nostril, gently blow the nose, and rely on the airflow to gently bring out the snot in the other nostril. Then switch to the opposite side and blow the other side clean. The key to treating secretory otitis media in children is to treat rhinitis and sinusitis. Flushing the nasal cavity with hypertonic seawater and other rinses can prevent and treat nasal inflammation, and antibiotics are generally not needed.