swimmers ear

Viper I like Auracane eardrops. Make sure you dry your ears in the hair dryers too. I used to have ear problems sometimes, but if I dry and use eardrops I am fine. Good luck. Swimmy :)

I had that problem when I first learned to swim 4 years ago and now have to wear ear plugs to swim. When you are at the store buying the swimmers ear stuff, also buy the soft silicone ear plugs that are usually right by the swimmers ear drops.

You may just have a little water trapped in the outer ear canal against the ear drum. Put the alcohol in (the ear), and lay on your side with the affected ear down against the surface you are laying on. Pull up on the top of the ear (gently). Sometimes this will allow a little extra space for the water to drain for those of us with small ear canals. If the hearing impediment continues, you may need to see a doctor (ear, nose, throat personage). It's possible you have a piece of dried skin or other flaky substance preventing the draining process. I swim nearly every day and always put a couple of drops of rubbing alcohol in afterwards due to similar experiences. Occasionally (rarely) I have to visit the doctor to have mold removed if the blockage gets too severe for a lengthy time period. Not to fret, my hearing is fine. It's my eyesight that's going. :rolleyes: Jim

If you go to the drug store there are a million different "swimmers ear" drops that you could buy. The one I use for my daughter is called swim ear.

Thanks, I will stop there then tongiht and look for some!! I haven't been able to hear anything out of my left ear since saturday and its driving me crazy, cause we are swimming tommorrow!!

Sometimes ears just get stopped up from an allergy or cold. But, yeah, I agree with all the above, water in the ear is heck. And you will definately know when you have swimmer's ear. It will send you directly to the doctor, not stopping at the USMS message board to ask what is wrong.

Probably wax (cerumen), in which case you may need to have a doctor remove it. Don't try this at home. Not a big deal (just takes a few minutes); you can buy over the counter drops to soften it up first so that it will be easier to remove.

I have a little dropper bottle with hydrogen peroxide in it, I put several drops into my ear after swimming them let it drain out. Alcohol would work too but tends to dry out my skin when used on a regular basis. Anything to lower the surface viscosity of the water in your ear to let it drain out.

VIPER, after every practice... I put rubbing alcohol in my ears when I get home... I let it sit for maybe 2 or so minutes and then switch to the other ear. (Open and close your mouth a few times and tug on your ears when the alcohol is in there... it seems to open up the canals and it gets in every little nook and cranny). It dries the h2o up immediately and I have had no ear problems since I started that "tradition." Wear ear plugs until you are feeling better... I think the silicon ones suck (don't waste your money). S.

Originally posted by gull80 Probably wax (cerumen), in which case you may need to have a doctor remove it. Don't try this at home. Not a big deal (just takes a few minutes); you can buy over the counter drops to soften it up first so that it will be easier to remove. This was my thought as well. Long-time swimmers probably have very little wax in their ears, but new-to-the-pool swimmers haven't had the normal buildup of wax cleared out yet. Chances are that the water loosened up a healthy chunk of wax from the ear canal, and now it's blocking things for you. They sell special syringes that you can have someone use to flush out your ear canal. (No, it's not a needle. It's more like a special turkey baster.) But if it were I with the problem, I would pay the copay to have my doctor do it professionally. You MIGHT be able to clear it out by letting the shower pelt your ear, at hot as you can stand it, maybe 5 minutes a day. MAYBE after a few days you might wash it out. BTW, when I read the title of the thread, I thought it would be something else. Traditionally, "swimmers ear" is rather painful, and it often results from bacteria flourishing in the ear canal because of water that stays trapped in there. You get a nice little pool of water festering and it growing all sorts of "companions" that share the pool with you. Ear drops (alcohol, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, etc.) help the ear dry out to eliminate the medium that allows the nasties to grow. A full-blown case of swimmers ear can be hell. An outer-ear infection is often treated with drops of some sort that your doctor prescribes. It's ofren uncomfortable to press at all on your outer ear by the opening, so even wearing a knit hat can hurt. An inner ear infection usually requires antibiotics. (Inner ear infections are especially painful if you go under water even to some very minimal depths -- including just doing flip turns. I can tell you from personal experience.) Back to the wax, I had to have my ear flushed once, many years ago. My doctor did it. Not painful. He blasted the turkey baster into my ear. I held a little pan to catch the flush-out. I couldn't believe the size of the wax hunk he dislodged. It was about the size of the end segment of my pinkie finger. It was amazing how well I could hear after that!