Eardrum Skin Issue

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Jersey

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Location
SE PA/ Southern NJ
# of dives
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Had an ear situation arise couple weeks back. Did a few nice tropical Bonaire dives, 60'ish foot range, 45 - 60 minutes in warm (80F) water. Noticed a bit of water in right ear after second dive. After third dive, noticed water in ear and diminished hearing which I attributed to water. Put a bit of alcohol-peroxide-water mix in ear and went to bed. By morning I had significant hearing issues, maybe 10% remained - I couldn't hear waves crashing standing next to them in right ear. No pain, no swelling, no redness, no issues clearing. But I was very concerned. Drove to the Hospital clinic at 9:25A, couple quick questions and I had a 10:15 appointment. At precisely 10;10 Doctor brought me back, I explained the situation, he took a look and said it looked like cotton stuck in there. That would be impossible as I don't use cotton in my ears, but he indicated they would irrigate it. Waited about 5 minutes for the tech, filled the irrigator with warm water and flushed. Immediately out came clumps of dead skin, about 1.5 X 2cm, they were big. She repeated the process 3 times and each time a clump came out. As they flushed out, my hearing returned to normal. I left at 10:45 with a script for some steroid drops and instructions to stay dry for a day or 2 to let the ear calm down. Awesome experience in the Clinic. Resumed diving after a day and half and had no issues remainder of trip.

Anyone seen this before? I can find reference to skin growing in middle ear - Cholesteatoma - but not external canal. It was not wax buildup, it was skin. The tech had never seen this before and we both thought it was pretty gross.

The only thing I think of was during my last multi day-dive trip October 2021, end of trip started water in ear issues, then developed a pretty bad head-chest cold post trip that required some meds to resolve. Felt like my hearing in right ear was impaired after that > little things like I could sleep through my alarm if my right ear was closest to alarm. At the time I wrote that off to normal aging process, but maybe it was just skin covering the eardrum.

All told, doc visit + script = $85, missed 5 or 6 dives, no residual effects, and thankfully I can continue diving. That was my big concern - they would look at me and say 'your diving days are done'. I will be scheduling an ENT visit just to follow up.
 
I have done a lot of research on the ear and hearing loss, but this is a new one to me too. Talk to DAN and see what they have to say.


SeaRat
 
@doctormike is our resident ENT physician, hopefully he will chime in here.

Best regards,
DDM
 
What we call "earwax" or cerumen is actually a mix of secretions from glands in the ear canal and dead skin. There is such a thing as a canal cholesteatoma, but that's different from a middle ear process that requires major surgery. Sounds like an outer ear process - a swimmer's ear - with retained debris and dead skin. If it looks like cotton, it's often a fungal outer ear infection (otomycosis). Hard to say much more without seeing your ear, but if you make it north to Bergen County, I'm in Englewood every Wednesday AM! Or you could get one of these and show us all...
 
Thanks all! @doctormike - may well be vestiges of prior ear infection maybe related to my October cold-infection-whatever (not CoVid). Was treated remotely, my NP didn't get to see me or my ears. Will be picking up one of those handy-dandy-scopey-things. As usual life gives us the test first and the answers later. Know Englewood well, did some consulting at the Hospital years ago.

Had I been a bit more prepared when it flushed out, I would have taken pictures, but the tech and I were in a 'huh, isn't that interesting' moment. I did read that aging women (count me in) tend to have less ear wax and we don't have as much ear hair as men, so things may not migrate out as easily. My hubs wondered if hair product in ears > conditioners, alcohol based hairsprays, gel, mouse, oils > over time may have contributed.

First health related thing in 23 years diving, happy it was treatable, only lost 2 days diving, my hearing is back to normal, and the Bonaire Clinic trip was quick and relatively inexpensive.
 
@doctormike

Are you general ENT or pediatric ENT only? (for some reason I always thought you were pediatric ENT). Where is your main office/clinic?

I primarily see kids. I see a few adults, occasionally parents of patients who want me to clean out their earwax, and scuba divers!

I always tell the adults that I'm happy to do a basic evaluation, but if it's anything serious that needs surgery, I'll send them to the appropriate adult specialist.
 
I'm dealing with a similar situation right now. In my case it's not diving related. I went to Urgent care and the NP said the ear was so swollen she couldn't look in it. She gave me a prescription for an antibiotic and had me come back. When I went back she said the ear looked perfect aside from what she called "dead skin". This time she gave me a script for Neomycin and Polymyxin B Sulfates and Hydrocortisone Otic Suspension, USP. Hopefully this works
 

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