Ear wax / removal

[audission]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Yup I was wondering if removal of wax would also make me more prone to ear infections (swings and roundabout this game, eh)... I've got some Swim-Ear stuff, will using that not just dry out any wax on its own anyway?

 

[fisherdvm]

Removal of ear wax will NOT make you more prone to ear infections - either middle ear infection (otitis media), or external ear infection (otitis externa).

However, immediately after removal of chronic hardened ear plugs, the skin under the wax might be macerated and more prone to being colonized. Especially if one were to flood the ear with some natural salt water, or pond scum...

I instruct my patients prone to swimmer's ear to dry out their ears immediately after swimming or shower with a thin wick of tissue paper (too soft to injure the ear drum) but absorbant enough to dry out the ear.

The quicker the ears dry, the less likely bacteria and yeast will colonize and cause an external ear infection.

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

Keep some psudafed around if you have sticky ears, works great. Just don't take it too far in advance. 12 hr kind will work well for diving situations. And before some expert OW diver jumps in, even DAN says it seems to help.

I'll bite...

I use pseudoephedrine regularly. I've also checked DAN's site a few times over the years to find their recommendations. When I looked a few months ago I found two articles that seemed to contradict each other. When I look now I find three articles, one on using pseudoephedrine while pregnant, another in the 'women's issues' section, and one titled, " Pseudoephedrine & Enriched-Air Diving?"

Here's an excerpt from that article:

What's the bottom line? In normal, healthy divers breathing air, occasional use of pseudoephedrine at the recommended dose is probably safe. This presumes that the drug has been taken during periods when no diving has occurred and that no undesirable reactions have occurred. However, one should avoid chronic (daily) use when diving, and it seems reasonable to avoid the drug entirely if diving while using oxygen-nitrogen mixes where the PO2 during a dive might exceed 1.4 ata, the current recommended "safe" open-circuit scuba limit.

Emphasis mine

My advice: Before you use pseudoephedrine while diving you should know how your body reacts to it. It makes some people 'jittery,' and could contribute to panic in a high-stress situation.

Like I said, I use it. Almost daily for regular 'maintenance', and before every dive. I use the 4-hour kind because the 12- or 24-hour kind doesn't work for me. And I know how my body reacts to it. My wife, on the other hand, should never use it diving because it makes her feel nervous on land.

Does that make me an "expert OW diver?"

 

[cmay]

I might be missing something, but my experience shows that ear wax in no way impacts ear clearing on descent. It is purely an inner ear/eustachiantube issue. Ear wax can contribute to outer ear infections.

I personally use a infant nasal aspirator to flush (VERY Gently) with warm water after diving. I follow this up with Swimmer's Ear or a diluted alcohol mixture.

 

[Dive-aholic]

At work I've used Colace to remove ear wax with some pretty good success.

Colace can be picked up OTC in the stool softener section of your local pharmacy.

 

[kjunheart]

When I was diving more often (pre-baby), I started to have a problem clearing my ears as I was ascending. Back then I contacted DAN and they referred me to an ear doc in WPB who was also an experienced diver. I had so much wax build up (yuck) that he said it was causing a reverse squeeze effect. He blamed it on my using Q-tips. Needless to say I don't use those anymore. I haven't had the problem again. He also said that if I dive a lot, he didn't recommend doing the wax removal on a regular basis because some wax in the ear is a good thing. It helps protect the ear. I just thought that was interesting.

 

[Charlie99]

How significant is ear wax in relation to equalising ears?

Other than Kjunheart's post above, I've never head of someone diving with an ear so completely blocked by wax that it interfered with equalization. OTOH, it's pretty easy to have a little dam of earwax that traps water in the ear. Besides being annoying, leaving water trapped in the ear for a long time makes you more prone to infection.

OTOH, excessive removal of wax will also irritate the ear and make it more prone to infection.

My simple test is to turn my head to the side, pour some water in my ear. If it empties right out when I turn my head back upright, then I'm set to go and don't bother with Debrox or other treatments.

 

[SparticleBrane]

I try to clean out my ears once every month or two with the over the counter ear stuff--bulb and softener. Seems to work nicely. My parents never clean theirs out...I've cleaned theirs twice, and each time gotten something black and the size of a slug out of each ear. It was disgusting.

After I get out of the water I toss some ear cleaning stuff into my ears for a moment--1/3 alcohol, 1/3 white vinegar, 1/3 hydrogen peroxide. Then when I get home from the day of diving I put that in each ear for 5 minutes. Never had an ear infection. Leaving that sort of an ear mixture in each ear for 5 minutes is, I believe, USN standards. I've never had an ear infection doing that.

edit: I took pictures of the gross stuff I got out of my parents' ears last time they were cleaned...I'll be happy to share if you wish.

 

[Scuba-Jay]

I had this issue years ago and say my GP in the UK about it. He had a device attached to a pump (very much like a mini mini pressure washer) which he inserted into my ear. He pressed the button, it sprayed, nasty goo came pouring out, and Presto, i was saved!!

 

[tboxcar]

First I will state that I have no problem in equalizing my ears, it's just after repetitive dives that I sometimes get the feeling of water still being in my ears thus reducing my hearing. It usually goes away that night, but if you are diving two or three times day, it never quite clear itself out. I attribute it to an ear wax build up as several years back while diving in a swimming pool, I immediately noticed the same symptoms and went to an ENT, who ended up rinsing my ear and said that a chunk of wax was creating a problem.
So my question is for anyone who has recenlty used any over the counter wax removal products and their comments concerning these products.