ear solution to keep from getting infection?

[doctormike]

Is glycerin soluble in water or alcohol? Also where can it be bought?

Yup! Kosher, too...

 

[lowviz]

Yeah, that too...

 

[Scubagolf]

I guess of two :
1) Use a mixture of water, alcohol and white vinegar 33/33/33%. Drop a few drops of the mixture en each ear after each dive.
2) Use those bulky ear masks Pro Ear 2000 Mask, oceanic proear 2000

Distilled water, isopropyl alcohol, white vinegar. 1/3, 1/3, 1/3. Mix it before you go. Keep it fresh, max two weeks.

The key is to leave the "ear beer" 4 minutes in each ear. Do one ear, and then the other. Patience is the key. 4 minutes in each ear after every dive.

The distilled water is a delivery vehicle that moderates the harshness of the other two components.

 

[kwinter]

Ignore this^^^^^

70% rubbing alcohol is only 140 proof. 190 proof will dry faster leaving almost nothing behind and if it doesn't work you can drink it to kill the pain. The vinegar will do nothing that the alcohol can't do much better. The key is to leave as little behind from the solution you use so you are not trading one problem for another.

Do you have any idea what you're talking about? Your previous post talked about using 190 proof (95%) of the kind you drink. Now you're talking about rubbing alcohol. I certainly hope you haven't been drinking that. Rubbing alcohol that you buy in the drug store is isopropyl alcohol. The stuff you drink is ethanol, and is only available in liquor stores. And if you check my prior post, I recommended buying at least 90%, which would be 180 proof if we were talking about ethanol, which we aren't. Most drug stores sell several different concentrations of rubbing alcohol.
And I stand by my suggestion to acidify the mix with vinegar. And others seem to agree. So please take your confused, misguided advice elsewhere.


iPhone. iTypo. iApologize.

 

[uncfnp]

Warning. Probably more then you want or care to know...

Actually rubbing or 70 percent alcohol is just fine and the one most commonly recommended though any concentration from 60 to 90 will work. Oddly enough, this is a case where more is not necessarily better. A little water with the alcohol (not added to but as in a lower alcohol percentage) actually enhances ithe antimicrobial activity.

And isopropyl alcohol is consider slightly more effective against bacteria and ethyl alcohol slightly better for viruses. So in this case isopropyl wins.

 

[agilis]

I believe Doctormike is an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist. I'd follow his advice and suggestions.

 

[doctormike]

I believe Doctormike is an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist. I'd follow his advice and suggestions.

Hah! Thanks...

But the thing is, all of you really are correct - at the concentrations that you find on the contact surface, virtually any alcohol solution will kill the bacteria. Dropping the pH also helps (as I mentioned), but you can plain alcohol will do as well. The main advantage of higher "proof" alcohol is that it has less water, and the less water, the better (in general). But if you are mixing vinegar (mostly water) and water in with your drops, then you will end up with a solution that might not dry the ear as well. A good balance would be more alcohol than

Here are a few take home points that might be interesting:

1) The ear will often heal itself if you give it a few days to dry out naturally (yeah, I know, I'm not skipping any dives either!). But the biggest reason that otitis externa (swimmer's ear) doesn't get better isn't a bacteriocidal failure. That is, it isn't that you aren't applying something that will kill the bacteria (leaving aside fungal infections for the moment). It's the presence of debris (dead skin and earwax) in the ear canal that traps moisture, and more important, provides a protected environment that will let bacteria survive even if you use a drop that will technical be deadly to the bacteria. That's why a big part of my treatment of OE is cleaning the ear carefully using a microscope and a suction. Any of you who find yourself with swimmer's ear in NYC, feel free to stop by for a cleaning!

2) Sometimes the symptoms are worsened by overcleaning the ear - excessive irrigation, overuse of alcohol solutions, etc.... this is because you remove the thin protective layer of earwax that prevents the bacteria that live in all of our ear canals from invading their normal host environment. The reason why it's "swimmer's ear" is that excessive water exposure also can cause breakdown of the protective layer, and can make the skin itself more susceptible to infection. Kind of like how your fingers get "pruney" when you spend too long in the bath.

3) A good way to prevent OE without resorting to these drops (which may have side effects if used too much, as mentioned above) is to keep the ear dry. These were great, although the company is retooling and for now they are hard to find. Hopefully they will be available again soon.

4) Medicated drops containing an antibiotic and steroid are also useful in this situation, although it might be hard to get this on a Caribbean island. Something like Cortisporin Otic suspension has an antibiotic to kill the bacteria, and a steroid to reduce the canal swelling (letting the ear heal itself). Remember, overuse of an antibiotic (which kills bacteria) may let a fungus get a foothold, which can be even worse (otomycosis, or "jungle ear"). So these shouldn't be used as a preventative measure, like some people use the alcohol/vinegar solutions.

And if you like, here is DAN's take on this... personally, I think that less water and more alcohol is better, but 50/50 works too, and is less irritating if you are using it for more than a day or two.

 

[Rich Keller]

Do you have any idea what you're talking about? Your previous post talked about using 190 proof (95%) of the kind you drink. Now you're talking about rubbing alcohol.

No I am still talking about the kind you drink when I refer to 190 proof. Not an original idea by the way I was told to do this by a doctor who sepcialised in working with commercial divers. So I think I will stick with his advice over some whining amateurs guess as to what works best.

 

[uncfnp]

Rather then over drying, to me the greater risk are people that use Q tips to clean their ear canals. This removes the protective wax or more often just serves to pack the wax deeper into the canal. Too often I see these individuals in the office with hard cerumen plugs that we then have to remove. Q tips can also cause damage to the canal that will provide yet another opportunity for infection.

And while antibiotic drops are usually needed for actual infections I don't recommend anyone use them as a preventative. Not only for the risk of resistant infections but because over use can actually set you up for a really nasty fungal infection. Not pretty and can be hard to treat.

 

[doctormike]

Rather then over drying, to me the greater risk are people that use Q tips to clean their ear canals. This removes the protective wax or more often just serves to pack the wax deeper into the canal. Too often I see these individuals in the office with hard cerumen plugs that we then have to remove. Q tips can also cause damage to the canal that will provide yet another opportunity for infection.

Preach it, brother! I treat q-tips like other doctors treat cigarettes.