Diving with ruptured ear drums

[kkgodiving]

Anyone out there still dive even with ruptured ear drum/s? I did something stupid and put a hole in both my ears. The doc said it will take 4 to 6 weeks to heal and my next trip to Manado is 15/Dec. Hopefully my ears will heal by then but what if? Please share your experience.

 

[dive_lover88]

dont go diving until you get the all clear from the doc.
Wish you a speedy recovery. Btw how long will you be in manado?

 

[Ice9]

Ya, don't risk a dive unless you are fully healed. There is nothing down there worth risking your hearing for...

 

[HowieDean]

I ruptured my left ear drum when I was 12 playing war in the pool with cherry bombs - one went off right next to my ear

Started diving when I was 15 and NEVER had any problems equalizing

36 years and about 1600 dives later (June of this year) I ruptured the same ear for no know reason while on a completely normal decent - didn't feel any discumfort before it happened just kind of felt the water rush in and got pretty dizzy - could actually feel and hear the air blowing through it when I tried to equalize

Stayed out of the water for 2 months - on my first 6 dives had allot of pain on the outer side of my ear - on the 7th dive I got water in my inner ear - again got dizzy - but pain went away emidately and has never come back - My head was full of water for about a week.

Doc said that I did not break it again but even though I started on Atibotics almost emdiately got a prety good ear infection.... Lower ustation tube was pretty sore and couldn't hear very well for about 2 weeks

Haven't had any problems since....

I would be VERY CAREFULL and wait as long as I could if I was you.....

 

[TSandM]

A ruptured eardrum means that you have an open connection between the outside world and your middle ear. Seawater will enter if you submerge, but there is no guarantee that it will all drain out at the end of the dive. Seawater contains a fair amount of organic material which is great culture medium for bacteria. Therefore, filling your middle ear with seawater puts you at risk for infection.

We advise people with ruptured tympanic membranes to avoid getting any water of any kind in their ears until the membrane is intact again (this goes for swimmers or anybody, not just divers.)

 

[altitudemike]

I have partally collapsed ear drums from an explosion & can tell you from experience to get the all clear from a doctor. Try to find a doctor who dives they may want you to wait even longer than a doc who doesn't. Hope you have a speedy recovery though.

 

[JRScuba]

My son had a very bad infection in his ear that made a hole in his eardrum.

A bone destroying growth grew behind his ear drum. After 3 operation it was completely removed. It destroyed the bones that connect the ear drum to the middle ear. Lost hearing in that ear and was told not to go to deep underwater. This all happened when he was about 10yo.

Two years ago ( age 36 ) an ear specialist put in a prosthesis that took the place of the small bones and now has about 95% hearing in his ear.

Morale of story: See an EAR SPECIALIST to make sure you will not have any problem. Although there have been great strides in ear research why go through the trouble and expense.

If you need further info PM me.

Take Care

J

 

[grassyknoll]

I ruptured an eardrum diving as well, I had also done this years before free-diving (the first time you feel the tear, pain and nasuea, you will definitely know whan you've done it again). Now this second time I did it it initially felt the same but after several days it felt like there was water in my ear and my hearing was impaired. I went to an ENT and she confirmed that me eardrum was full of blood. I was told that it would take up to 6 weeks to drain or they could insert a needle and drain it (I don't mind shots but I dre the line at a needle in the ear). It did eventually drain and I'm back to diving but I wonder if it would have been safe to dive, with the eardrum full of fluid there likely wouldn't have been pressure issues, I guess I could have tried and called the dive if I couldn't equalize but then I may have rune a risk of a reverse block. I would likely err on the side of caution but if you live in an active diving area you may be able to find an ENT versed in diving who would give you solid advice.
You're asking medical advice off of a chat-board........next up, the post "Hey, I'm thinking of performing my own angioplasty, can someone walk me through the process"....

 

[kkgodiving]

Thank you all of you. I will definitely visit my ENT doc b4 I take the next dip. For the discussion, I believed I broke both the drums on the 30m wreck dive at Sawadee site in Tioman, Malaysia (if you guys are familiar with this area). There was water in my left ear (which I had raptured some 20 years ago from swimming infection and got it repaired since) and when I try blowing my nose on land, there was high pitch sound. I told my son that my left ear was a goner. Went to see my GP on 25th and he confirmed it. The right ear was OK since the dive except that I felt some pressure on it which affected my hearing. Three days later the pressure built up in it was very much higher and both ears started to "leak". I visited my ENT doc and the scope confirmed a hole in each drum. Today, both ears have dried up but the hearing on the right ear is still not optimum but they are a great improvement from last week. Once again, thank you guys. I will exercise caution on my next dive. Lesson learnt.
BTW, I will be spending 6 days in Mandao. If I cannot dive, the family would go ahead and I will go explore the volcano.