The main symptom of labyrinthitis is severe vertigo. Rapid and undesired eye motion (nystagmus) often results from the improper indication of rotational motion. Nausea, anxiety, and a general ill feeling are common due to the distorted balance signals that the brain receives from the inner ear.

Vertigo that arises from injury to the balance centers of the central nervous system (CNS), often from a lesion in the brainstem or cerebellum, is called "central" vertigo and is generally associated with less prominent movement illusion and nausea than vertigo of peripheral origin. Central vertigo may have accompanying neurologic deficits (such as slurred speech and double vision), and pathologic nystagmus (which is pure vertical/torsional). Central pathology can cause disequilibrium which is the sensation of being off balance. The balance disorder associated with central lesions causing vertigo is often so severe that many patients are unable to stand or walk.

A number of conditions that involve the central nervous system may lead to vertigo including: lesions caused by infarctions or hemorrhage, tumors present in the cerebellopontine angle such as a vestibular schwannoma or cerebellar tumors, epilepsy, cervical spine disorders such as cervical spondylosis, degenerative ataxia disorders, migraine headaches, lateral medullary syndrome, Chiari malformation, multiple sclerosis, parkinsonism, as well as cerebral dysfunction. Central vertigo may not improve or may do so more slowly than vertigo caused by disturbance to peripheral structures.

Vertigo is a sensation of spinning while stationary. It is commonly associated with nausea or vomiting, unsteadiness (postural instability), falls, changes to a person's thoughts, and difficulties in walking. Recurrent episodes in those with vertigo are common and frequently impair the quality of life. Blurred vision, difficulty in speaking, a lowered level of consciousness, and hearing loss may also occur. The signs and symptoms of vertigo can present as a persistent (insidious) onset or an episodic (sudden) onset.

Persistent onset vertigo is characterized by symptoms lasting for longer than one day and is caused by degenerative changes that affect balance as people age. Naturally, the nerve conduction slows with aging and a decreased vibratory sensation is common.

Additionally, there is a degeneration of the ampulla and otolith organs with an increase in age. Persistent onset is commonly paired with central vertigo signs and symptoms.

The characteristics of an episodic onset vertigo is indicated by symptoms lasting for a smaller, more memorable amount of time, typically lasting for only seconds to minutes. Typically, episodic vertigo is correlated with peripheral symptoms and can be the result of but not limited to diabetic neuropathy or autoimmune disease.

Labyrinthitis, also known as vestibular neuritis, is inflammation of the inner ear. It results in vertigo and also possible hearing loss or ringing in the ears. It can occur as a single attack, a series of attacks, or a persistent condition that diminishes over three to six weeks. It may be associated with nausea and vomiting. Vestibular neuronitis may also be associated with eye nystagmus.

The cause is often not clear. It may be due to a virus, but it can also arise from bacterial infection, head injury, extreme stress, an allergy, or as a reaction to medication. 30% of affected people had a common cold prior to developing the disease. Either bacterial or viral labyrinthitis can cause permanent hearing loss in rare cases. This appears to result from an imbalance of neuronal input between the left and right inner ears.

Vestibular neuritis affects approximately 35 per million people per year. It typically occurs in those between 30 and 60 years of age. There is no significant gender difference. It derives its name from the labyrinths that house the vestibular system, which senses changes in head position.

Many patients will report a history of vertigo as a result of fast head movements. Many patients are also capable of describing the exact head movements that provoke their vertigo. Purely horizontal nystagmus and symptoms of vertigo lasting more than one minute can also indicate BPPV occurring in the horizontal semicircular canal.

Patients do not experience other neurological deficits such as numbness or weakness, and if these symptoms are present, a more serious etiology, such as posterior circulation stroke or ischemia, must be considered.

The spinning sensation experienced from BPPV is usually triggered by movement of the head, will have a sudden onset, and can last anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes. The most common movements patients report triggering a spinning sensation are tilting their heads upwards in order to look at something, and rolling over in bed.

Otitis is a general term for inflammation or infection of the ear, in both humans and other animals.

It is subdivided into the following:

- "Otitis externa", external otitis, or "swimmer's ear" involves the outer ear and ear canal. In external otitis, the ear hurts when touched or pulled.

- "Otitis media" or middle ear infection involves the middle ear. In otitis media, the ear is infected or clogged with fluid behind the ear drum, in the normally air-filled middle-ear space. This very common childhood infection sometimes requires a surgical procedure called "myringotomy" and tube insertion.

- "Otitis interna" or labyrinthitis involves the inner ear. The inner ear includes sensory organs for balance and hearing. When the inner ear is inflamed, "vertigo" is a common symptom.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is a disorder arising from a problem in the inner ear. Symptoms are repeated, brief periods of vertigo with movement, that is, of a spinning sensation upon changes in the position of the head. This can occur with turning in bed or changing position. Each episode of vertigo typically lasts less than one minute. Nausea is commonly associated. BPPV is one of the most common causes of vertigo.

BPPV can result from a head injury or simply occur among those who are older. A specific cause is often not found. The underlying mechanism involves a small calcified otolith moving around loose in the inner ear. It is a type of balance disorder along with labyrinthitis and Ménière's disease. Diagnosis is typically made when the Dix–Hallpike test results in nystagmus (a specific movement pattern of the eyes) and other possible causes have been ruled out. In typical cases medical imaging is not needed.

BPPV is often treated with a number of simple movements such as the Epley maneuver or Brandt–Daroff exercises. Medications may be used to help with nausea. There is tentative evidence that betahistine may help with the vertigo but its use is not generally needed. BPPV is not a serious condition. Typically it resolves in one to two weeks. It however may recur in some people.

The first medical description of the condition occurred in 1921 by Robert Barany. About 2.4% of people are affected at some point in time. Among those who live until their 80s, 10% have been affected. BPPV affects females twice as often as males. Onset is typically in the person's 50s to 70s.

Ceruminous adenoma are rare tumors, accounting for less than 1% of all external ear tumors. The patients will present with a mass, perhaps associated pain, and may have changes in hearing (usually a sensorineural or a conductive hearing loss). Some patients have tinnitus. Nerve paralysis is very uncommon.

Some common symptoms and signs of mastoiditis include pain, tenderness, and swelling in the mastoid region. There may be ear pain (otalgia), and the ear or mastoid region may be red (erythematous). Fever or headaches may also be present. Infants usually show nonspecific symptoms, including anorexia, diarrhea, or irritability. Drainage from the ear occurs in more serious cases, often manifest as brown discharge on the pillowcase upon waking.

A ceruminous adenoma (also known as adenoma of the ceruminous gland and ceruminoma) is a benign glandular neoplasm which arises from the ceruminous glands located within the external auditory canal. These glands are found within the outer one third to one half of the external auditory canal, more common along the posterior surface; therefore, the tumor develops within a very specific location.

The defining characteristic of BPT is a tilting of an infant’s head in recurrent episodes, for varying periods of time. Furthermore, the child’s trunk may bend in the same direction as the head, giving the baby an overall curved shape; this complaint is known as tortipelvis. In addition to this, the individual may also, but not necessarily, experience vomiting, pallor, ataxia, agitation, infantile migraine, unsteadiness of gait upon learning to walk, general malaise and nystagmus.

The periods in which the child’s head is tilted and other symptoms appear can last anywhere from a few minutes to a few weeks, with a frequency of anywhere from two per year to two per month.

The condition most commonly is located at the junction of the hard and soft palate. However, the condition may arise anywhere minor salivary glands are located. It has also been occasionally reported to involve the major salivary glands. It may be present only on one side, or both sides. The lesion typically is 1–4 cm in diameter.

Initially, the lesion is a tender, erythematous (red) swelling. Later, in the ulcerated stage, the overlying mucosa breaks down to leave a deep, well-circumscribed ulcer which is yellow-gray in color and has a lobular base.

There is usually only minor pain, and the condition is often entirely painless. There may be prodromal symptoms similar to flu before the appearance of the lesion.

Main clinical signs and symptoms include:

- headache

- movement disorders

- tremor

- visual disturbances

- abnormal EEG

- Diplopia

Patients with Lhermitte–Duclos disease and Cowden's syndrome may also have multiple growths on skin. The tumor, though benign, may cause neurological injury including abnormal movements.

MICROSCOPY(lhermitte-duclos disease)

1>Enlarged circumscribed cerebellar folia

2>internal granular layer is focally indistinct and is occupied by large ganglion cells

3>myelinated tracks in outer molecular layer

4>underlying white matter is atrophic and gliotic

Mastoiditis is the result of an infection that extends to the air cells of the skull behind the ear. Specifically, it is an inflammation of the mucosal lining of the mastoid antrum and mastoid air cell system inside the mastoid process. The mastoid process is the portion of the temporal bone of the skull that is behind the ear which contains open, air-containing spaces. Mastoiditis is usually caused by untreated acute otitis media (middle ear infection) and used to be a leading cause of child mortality. With the development of antibiotics, however, mastoiditis has become quite rare in developed countries where surgical treatment is now much less frequent and more conservative, unlike former times. Additionally, there is no evidence that the drop in antibiotic prescribing for otitis media has increased the incidence of mastoiditis, raising the possibility that the drop in reported cases is due to a confounding factor such as childhood immunizations against Haemophilus and Streptococci. Untreated, the infection can spread to surrounding structures, including the brain, causing serious complications.

Benign paroxysmal torticollis (BPT) is a rare medical disorder affecting infants.

Lhermitte–Duclos disease (LDD) (), also called dysplastic gangliocytoma of the cerebellum, is a rare, slowly growing tumor of the cerebellum, a gangliocytoma sometimes considered to be a hamartoma, characterized by diffuse hypertrophy of the granular layer of the cerebellum. It is often associated with Cowden syndrome. It was described by Jacques Jean Lhermitte and P. Duclos in 1920.

Most symptoms of people with post-viral cerebellar ataxia deal to a large extent with the movement of the body. Some common symptoms that are seen are clumsy body movements and eye movements, difficulty walking, nausea, vomiting, and headaches.

Necrotizing sialometaplasia (NS) is a benign, ulcerative lesion, usually located towards the back of the hard palate. It is thought to be caused by ischemic necrosis (death of tissue due to lack of blood supply) of minor salivary glands in response to trauma. Often painless, the condition is self-limiting and should heal in 6–10 weeks.

Although entirely benign and requiring no treatment, due to its similar appearance to oral cancer, it is sometimes misdiagnosed as malignant. Therefore, it is considered an important condition, despite its rarity.

Differential diagnosis may include:

- Opsoclonus-myoclonus-ataxia syndrome

- Miller-Fisher syndrome

- Meningoencephalitis

- Cerebral abscess

- Tumor

- Hydrocephalus

- Inner-ear Disease

- Acute Vestibulitis

- Acute Labyrinthitis

Episcleritis is a benign, self-limiting inflammatory disease affecting part of the eye called the episclera. The episclera is a thin layer of tissue that lies between the conjunctiva and the connective tissue layer that forms the white of the eye (sclera). Episcleritis is a common condition, and is characterized by the abrupt onset of mild eye pain and redness.

There are two types of episcleritis, nodular and simple. Nodular episcleritis lesions have raised surface. Simple episcleritis lesions are flat. There are two subtypes. In diffuse simple episcleritis, inflammation is generalized. In sectoral simple episcleritis, the inflammation is restricted to one region.

Most cases of episcleritis have no identifiable cause, although a small fraction of cases is associated with various systemic diseases. Often people with episcleritis experience it recurrently. Treatment focuses on decreasing discomfort, and includes lubricating eye drops. More severe cases may be treated with topical corticosteroids or oral anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs).

Symptoms of episcleritis include mild eye pain, redness, and watery eyes. The pain of episcleritis is typically mild, less severe than in scleritis, and may be tender to palpation.

There are two types of episcleritis: the diffuse type, where the redness involves the entire episclera, and the nodular type, where the redness appears more nodular, involving only a small, well-circumscribed area (sectoral). The diffuse type of episcleritis may be less painful than the nodular type. Sometimes, small nodules are present within the episclera, which move slightly over the sclera with gentle pressure.

Discharge is absent with episcleritis, and vision is unaffected. Patients with episcleritis experience far less photophobia than patients with uveitis. Episcleritis does not cause the presence of cells or flare in the anterior chamber of the eye.

Patients with unilateral hearing loss have difficulty in

- hearing conversation on their impaired side

- localizing sound

- understanding speech in the presence of background noise.

- interpersonal and social relations

- difficulty concentrating in large, open environments

In quiet conditions, speech discrimination is no worse than normal hearing in those with partial deafness; however, in noisy environments speech discrimination is almost always severe.

Dizziness is an impairment in spatial perception and stability. Because the term "dizziness" is imprecise, it can refer to vertigo, presyncope, disequilibrium, or a non-specific feeling such as giddiness or foolishness.

One can induce dizziness by engaging in disorientating activities such as spinning.

- Vertigo is the sensation of spinning or having one's surroundings spin about them. Many people find vertigo very disturbing and often report associated nausea and vomiting. It represents about 25% of cases of occurrences of dizziness.

- Disequilibrium is the sensation of being off balance, and is most often characterized by frequent falls in a specific direction. This condition is not often associated with nausea or vomiting.

- Presyncope is lightheadedness, muscular weakness and feeling faint as opposed to a syncope, which is actually fainting.

- Non-specific dizziness is often psychiatric in origin. It is a diagnosis of exclusion and can sometimes be brought about by hyperventilation.

A stroke is the cause of isolated dizziness in 0.7% of people who present to the emergency room.

A papillary hidradenoma, also hidradenoma papilliferum, is a sharply circumscribed nodule or benign tumor of the apocrine gland usually found on the labia majora or the interlabial folds. It is benign tissue (not cancerous) but is often confused clinically with carcinoma of the vulva because of its tendency to ulcerate.

Many conditions are associated with dizziness. Dizziness can accompany certain serious events, such as a concussion or brain bleed, epilepsy and seizures (convulsions), strokes, and cases of meningitis and encephalitis. However, the most common subcategories can be broken down as follows: 40% peripheral vestibular dysfunction, 10% central nervous system lesion, 15% psychiatric disorder, 25% presyncope/disequilibrium, and 10% nonspecific dizziness. Some vestibular pathologies have symptoms that are comorbid with mental disorders. The medical conditions that often have dizziness as a symptom include:

- Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo

- Meniere's disease

- Vestibular neuronitis

- Labyrinthitis

- Otitis media

- Brain tumor

- Acoustic neuroma

- Motion sickness

- Ramsay Hunt syndrome

- Migraine

- Multiple sclerosis

- Pregnancy

- low blood pressure (hypotension)

- low blood oxygen content (hypoxemia)

- heart attack

- iron deficiency (anemia)

- low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)

- hormonal changes (e.g. thyroid disease, menstruation, pregnancy)

- panic disorder

- hyperventilation

- anxiety

- depression

- age-diminished visual, balance, and perception of spatial orientation abilities