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Small Hard Lumps Behind Left Ear

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I have 2 tiny, hard lumps behind my left ear. One is so small that I can barely feel it. It is closer to the earlobe. The second is in the hollow between the end of the jawbone and the muscles and cartilage of the neck. It is slightly bigger but still tiny. I would say no more than 4mm. They feel like bb's or peas, perfectly round, hard and small. They feel superficial, barely underneath the skin, but definitely under the skin and not a pimple. If I stretch my neck to the right, I can roll the larger of the two over the muscles and cartilage- if that makes any sense. I first noticed them approx 2 months ago when I had a cold sore on that side and the lymph nodes were inflammed. It feels as if they are above the lymph node and not attached but I am obviously not a doctor.

I had a complete head and neck workup in 9/05 including a thorough evaluation by an ent and a ct of the head and neck. This was in response to some chest pain that I was having- my doctors were being thorough in evaluating all possible causes. It turns out that I had slipping rib syndrome which was causing the chest pain, but the point is that I did have a thorough head and neck eval 1 year ago which was completely normal. I am 30 and female.



Also important is that I have recently lost 75 lbs so I am feeling all sorts of things that I could never feel before. So these little bumps may have been present for many years and I just never noticed them before.



I can't get into my doctor until next week or the week after and am panicking about this being cancer because they are so hard and I can't really find any other potential explanation. Does anyone have any idea of what they might be?
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replied November 8th, 2006
It sounds like a lymph node. I have one also. It is very small. Please let me know what yours is when you see the doctor. Surprised
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