An Instagram video by Dr Samuel, who is a family physician and has 132k followers on his Instagram account @drsameulgp is making rounds on social media, which has garnered 68.5K likes. In this video he talks about a 4-year-old daughter who kissed her mother on her ear and made her deaf. As frightening and dramatic as it may sound, it is true. This video is part of his Instagram video series called 'New Fear Unlocked', where he shares interesting medical stories so his Instagram family can learn lessons from them.He shares the story of a mother and a daughter from Long Island, who were enjoying a TV show one day, when her child gave her mother a "vigorous kiss" direct over mother's ear. This is when things went downhill for the mother and she completely lost hearing ability in her left ear. "She could not even hear a dial tone," he says. the week after, she was sensitive to sound, and one whole year after, she still had moderate hearing loss and has weird noises in her ears every time she moved her head. This in called the Reiter's Ear Kiss Syndrome (REKS), Cochlear Ear Kiss Injury, or more commonly, Kiss Of Deaf. How Does Kiss Of Deaf Happen?A sudden kiss on the external auditory canal or the ear opening, can create a strong negative pressure and a suction effect that pulls the delicate tympanic membrane or the eardrum outwards. This also pulls the chain of three tiny ear ossicles or bones, which are malleus, incus, and stapes outwards. This can lead to dislodging of stapes in the inner ear. Once this is done, fluid inside the ear leaks and causes damage to outer hair cells, which are the nerve endings inside the ear. These hair cells are the end organs for hearing and damage to these can lead to hearing loss, tinnitus (hearing sounds when you move your head), and other hearing damages.Why Is It Called Reiter's Ear Kiss Syndrome?The first case reported was in 2008 to Dr Levi Reiter, professor and head of the Audiology program at Hofstra University in New York. This was the case of the 49-year-old woman, whose 4-year-old child "vigorously" kissed her ear. This is why this condition was named after the doctor. Furthermore, after the first case, Dr Reiter was able to identify 30 such cases. Case StudiesDr Reiter's research led him to discover a similar ear-kiss injury reported in the 1950s. In 2012, the NBC News reported that an 82-year-old jazz producer from Long Island suffered hearing problems after his granddaughter kissed his ears. In 2023, the South China Morning Post reported that a man in China ruptured an eardrum after he passionately kissed his girlfriend for 10 minutes on Chinese Valentine's Day. While kissing, the man heard a bubbling sound, followed by pain in his left ear and, soon after, he could not hear properly. After being rushed to the hospital, the man was told that his eardrums were perforated and it will take him two months to recover. A similar incident happened in 2008, when a young woman in her 20s partially lost her hearing after her boyfriend ruptured her eardrum during an excessively passionate kiss, reports Reuters. This happens because intense kissing can lead to a rapid change in air pressure inside the ear. Heaving breathing of the partner in passion can lead to an imbalance that can puncture the ear.