H60.4Cholesteatoma of external ear

H60.4 is the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for cholesteatoma of external ear. It belongs to category H60 (otitis externa), block H60-H62 (diseases of external ear) and chapter 8 (diseases of the ear and mastoid process). It is a header code, so it can't be reported by itself; one of its 4 subcodes must be used instead.

Within H60 (otitis externa), H60.4 is specifically for cholesteatoma of external ear. Related codes cover abscess of external ear (H60.0), cellulitis of external ear (H60.1), malignant otitis externa (H60.2), other infective otitis externa (H60.3), acute noninfective otitis externa (H60.5), unspecified chronic otitis externa (H60.6), other otitis externa (H60.8) and unspecified otitis externa (H60.9).

To report this condition, pick the subcode that matches the documentation: H60.40 (unspecified ear), H60.41 (ear), H60.42 (ear) and H60.43 (bilateral).

The conditions in its Excludes2 note aren't part of H60.4, but may be coded alongside it if the patient has both: cholesteatoma of middle ear (H71.-) and recurrent cholesteatoma of postmastoidectomy cavity (H95.0-).

It has been part of ICD-10-CM since the code set took effect on October 1, 2015 and hasn't changed since.