Advice needed to keep water out of my ear

[brianwater]

After snorkling Hanauma Bay for hours, I'm hooked. I Loved it. So I want to scuba dive, but I have an obstacle: because of a middle ear surgery when I was young, getting cold water in my ear gives me vertigo. A wax earplug is plenty adequate to keep most of the water out while swimming, but I need something more reliable to scuba dive.
Anybody have suggestions or at least a lead towards a solution?

Thanks,
Brianwater

 

[pipedope]

I moved this one to Diving Medicine for better responses.

Most people will experience some vertigo if the water in one ear is colder than the other. Many divers keep this from being a problem by wearing a hood on all dives and letting water into the hood to fill the ears on the surface. In a moment or two the water warms to body temp and there is no vertigo or if there is it clears quickly.

There are other considerations and it might be a good idea to seek advice of an ENT who understands diving.

Welcome to ScubaBoard.

 

[fmerkel]

In diving the outside pressure needs to have access to the ear canal to deal with pressure changes while diving. You CANNOT totally plug the outer ear.

That said, I successfully have used Doc's Proplugs http://www.proplugs.com/ for several years diving both tropically and in the cold NW. The diving one's have a tiny hole to allow for pressure changes while keeping out most of the water. A little gets in but warms quickly. They neither help nor hinder equalization. You absolutely need to be sure the hole is open before each use. Good fitting is critical. They'll send you a fit kit if there are no dealers near you.

I'm assuming here that you do have an intact ear drum. If not don't even try.

Fritz Merkel

 

[brianwater]

Thanks for the info fmerkel & pipedope. I'll look into it.