By Kristin Hayes, RN 
Updated on July 23, 2020
Medically reviewed by Taz Bhatia, MD

Otitis media, or a middle ear infection, is one of the most common infections your child may experience, and adults can experience it as well.

You may turn to homeopathic remedies to relieve pain and symptoms during the "watchful waiting" period that pediatricians and primary care providers often recommend before prescribing antibiotics.
As many cases of otitis media are viral rather than bacterial and will clear on their own, this waiting period will show whether antibiotics are necessary.

However, you or your child may be in pain and have a fever, so the standard treatment includes pain relievers like ibuprofen.

Homeopathic treatments might be used in hopes of symptom relief, but there is little scientific evidence that they are effective. Currently, there are no complementary or alternative medicine (CAM) practices that have been proven to be effective for acute otitis media.

Homeopathy

Homeopathy is based on the theory that like cures like. A substance that might produce some of the same symptoms as the disease is highly diluted and used in a homeopathic preparation.

Depending on the illness it aims to correct, the preparation may be a topical cream, a pill, or liquid solution. Homeopathic ear drops contain a variety of highly diluted substances.

One of the chief critiques of homeopathy is that the preparations have so little of the purported active ingredient that it is difficult to imagine any clinical effect. Or, in some cases, the substance may have toxic effects if not sufficiently diluted.

Studies of homeopathic preparations have been flawed because they don't compare the product to an inactive placebo.

For example, a 2011 study found that children with acute otitis media who were given homeopathic ear drops in addition to analgesics had fewer symptoms and a faster recovery, based on symptom diaries maintained by their parents.

However, there was no group given placebo ear drops to compare whether the homeopathic preparation was effective or the positive outcomes were due to the placebo effect.

A 2014 study similarly didn't have a placebo group, but the aim was to see whether children given the homeopathic ear drops were less likely to later receive antibiotics for their suspected bacterial ear infection.

Parents were given an antibiotic prescription to fill if symptoms continued. The results showed that parents were less likely to fill the antibiotic prescription if the child was in the group given homeopathic ear drops in addition to standard therapy.

If the goal is to reduce the unnecessary use of antibiotics, then homeopathic ear drops may have a role as an adjunct treatment. Whether saline ear drops or plain water would work as well is still up for question.