Ear Trouble

[pipedope]

But those of us who do need to know so that we can take precautions.

I had one dive to all of 8' that pushed a big wax plug against my ear drum and it hurt like crazy and I couldn't hear much of anything. Not fun.

 

[Hank49]

I had a hard ball of wax shoot into the drum and rupture it at 100' in Cayman last year. Vertigo city. I learned my lesson about keeping em clean too!

Clean your ears but my experience demonstrated that the use of Q tips is not good. I was diving every day for a year, 2-3 dives and twice I cleaned my ears with Q tips and got swimmers ear 2 days later. I found that a soft (wet), flat tooth pick was the best tool. Apparently the Q tip cleans to well and removes the protective coating in your ear. Hank

 

[mempilot]

Clean your ears but my experience demonstrated that the use of Q tips is not good. I was diving every day for a year, 2-3 dives and twice I cleaned my ears with Q tips and got swimmers ear 2 days later. I found that a soft (wet), flat tooth pick was the best tool. Apparently the Q tip cleans to well and removes the protective coating in your ear. Hank

I never use q-tips. I use peroxide to clean and lanolin to relube. I use a bulb to fill my ear with the peroxide. I let it stand for about 5 minutes and then drain it. I then squirt a couple of drops of oil in to keep them lubricated. I do this about twice a month.

 

[H2Andy]

ok.. dumb question:

i never do nothing to my ears, and i never have any trouble. i went for a physical
the other day, and the nurse complimented me on my clean ears (all i do is shower!)

so.... if it aint fixed, don't break it, right?

 

[mempilot]

ok.. dumb question:

i never do nothing to my ears, and i never have any trouble. i went for a physical
the other day, and the nurse complimented me on my clean ears (all i do is shower!)

so.... if it aint fixed, don't break it, right?

Right on! You're lucky. I manufacture enough wax to export!

 

[pipedope]

BREAK IT!

Actually, most people don't need to do anything special to their ears. The natural system works great for them.

I am one of the people who make LARGE amounts of ear wax and I have known it since I was about eight years old.

Just something to be aware of.

 

[revy69]

I have had the same problem - some usefull information to go on here though to help out

 

[DandyDon]

I never use q-tips. I use peroxide to clean and lanolin to relube. I use a bulb to fill my ear with the peroxide. I let it stand for about 5 minutes and then drain it. I then squirt a couple of drops of oil in to keep them lubricated. I do this about twice a month.

No Q-tips, No peroxide! Ask your ENT...

I normally irrigate my ears well with warm water before any trips, to make sure they're open for the plane ride first, as well as diving. Drug stores have a wax softener if needed, but the peroxide is bad!

 

[mempilot]

Wax softener is 7% peroxide (Debrox). I dilute mine to about 10%.

 

[DandyDon]

Wax softener is 7% peroxide (Debrox). I dilute mine to about 10%.

Okay, color me confused? :15a: Went next door to a pharmacy, and he had a ear was kit that included Carbamide peroxide 6.5%. My doc told me No Hydrogren Peroxide, to be more precise. Now - I wonder about the similarities and differences?

My original doc told me to use an oil that was sold as a stool softener for babies...?

To the Search button...

"oil" "ear" "wax" all 3 letter words that our Search feature don't process...!!

But I did find a suggestion for Olive Oil...?