With increasing use of cell phones in the population, there seems to be an increasing number of patients who present with complaints of pain in/around the ear with cell phone use. When cell phone use ceases, the pain/discomfort fades only to return with use.
In this scenario, something to consider is contact dermatitis due to the cell phone. Why? Apparently, many cell phone casings contain free nickel which often causes skin problems, just like cheap jewelry.
Check out this table which shows the results of nickel spot testing on 23 different cell phones.
Read a research paper on this topic here.
