Earproblem prevention

[Zeamonkey]

After 6 weeks of ongoing earinfections, outer ear, and 3 weeks out of the water, every eardrop and antibiotic tried, I have finally found a way to dive again and not get my ears messed up. I'm a dive instructor and work in a pool for confined sessions and its NOT clean. Never had any ear problems in 6 years of working in diving before this.

My solution is that I smear a large chunk of Vaseline in my ears before every dive, just on the outside and it feels like a flexible earplug. I'm just wondering if there is any downside to this method and if it can give me any trouble later?

 

[DandyDon]

Yuck! That's just high quality axle grease really: Petroleum Jelly/Grease. I can imagine all sorts of possible risks, i.e. petroleum grease possibly clogging up channels, possible irritation of sensitive tissue, possible obstacles to equalizing.

What kind of infections are you getting? Swimmers Ear type? Alcohol-vinegar mix for 5 minutes each ear each day doesn't work...?

 

[doctormike]

After 6 weeks of ongoing earinfections, outer ear, and 3 weeks out of the water, every eardrop and antibiotic tried, I have finally found a way to dive again and not get my ears messed up. I'm a dive instructor and work in a pool for confined sessions and its NOT clean. Never had any ear problems in 6 years of working in diving before this.

My solution is that I smear a large chunk of Vaseline in my ears before every dive, just on the outside and it feels like a flexible earplug. I'm just wondering if there is any downside to this method and if it can give me any trouble later?

Bad idea, in my opinion. This will tend to accumulate in your ear canal, especially as it gets forced in by repeated applications and descents. It will also trap moisture, making swimmer's ear (otitis externa, or outer ear infections) more likely in the long run.

Try this: Sahara Dry Ear - Warm Air Ear Dryer

A lot of people have good luck with the occasional use of alcohol/vinegar solution after diving (remember, mostly alcohol, with a little bit of vinegar - maybe 2 tablespoons in a pint). However, other people have reactions to this and it doesn't work for everyone...

Plenty of threads about this here...!

Good luck,

Mike

 

[dpbishop]

Ask your doctor for a prescription for an otic solution of Cortisporin. A few drops in the ear after diving will usually kill anything nasty.

 

[doctormike]

Ask your doctor for a prescription for an otic solution of Cortisporin. A few drops in the ear after diving will usually kill anything nasty.

Nope, I would not recommend that.

Cortisporin Otic is useful for TREATING swimmer's ear caused by bacteria, after the diagnosis has been made and the ear cleaned of wax, debris, etc. However, as a preventative measure it is not a good idea. It is an antibiotic, and just like antibiotics taken by mouth, too much of them can lead to the overgrowth of resistant organisms, as well as complications from the drugs themselves (e.g. allergic reactions). Chronic use of antibiotic drops often leads to the overgrowth of fungal spores (otomycosis, or "jungle ear"). And the use of drops without a good, safe ear cleaning under direct vision will often not work even if there is a bacterial infection present.

The alcohol-vinegar solution mentioned above is OK for preventing swimmer's ear, as does mechanical ear drying...

Mike

 

[tkdgodess]

I had a very painful bout of swimmers ear after about a billion discover scuba's a few years ago, my doctor recommended putting a small drop of x-virgin olive oil in my ears prior to entering the water. He said my ears were too clean (wax removed by chlorine) and it was a combination of no wax to protect, and bugs entering easily because no wax. It works for me when I spend alot of time in the pool. Drying my ears didn't help, because water wasn't trapped in there, the tissue was exposed because of no wax left.

I think you are on the right track with a barrier, vaseline wouldn't be my choice. (i also was recommended to use x-vir olive oil on my baby's butt instead of vas. too, so how bad can it be?)

 

[doctormike]

I had a very painful bout of swimmers ear after about a billion discover scuba's a few years ago, my doctor recommended putting a small drop of x-virgin olive oil in my ears prior to entering the water. He said my ears were too clean (wax removed by chlorine) and it was a combination of no wax to protect, and bugs entering easily because no wax. It works for me when I spend alot of time in the pool. Drying my ears didn't help, because water wasn't trapped in there, the tissue was exposed because of no wax left.

I think you are on the right track with a barrier, vaseline wouldn't be my choice. (i also was recommended to use x-vir olive oil on my baby's butt instead of vas. too, so how bad can it be?)

Yup, that's good too, but for a different problem - overdrying and excessive removal of cerumen. Remember, earwax is there for a reason! Leave it alone unless is has built up to such a degree that it is causing problems...

 

[DandyDon]

Dr Dpbishop? Dr. Tkgodess? I know - I know what works for me and I tend to think that I can tell others how to treat their ears based on my successes. And you two are far more experienced than I. Good that we have diving physicians like Doctormike and others to keep us in line, tho.

For Swimmers Ear prevention, I like 50-50 alcohol-vinegar; DocVikingo likes 33-33-33 alcohol-vinegar-water; Doctormike likes "alcohol/vinegar solution after diving (remember, mostly alcohol, with a little bit of vinegar - maybe 2 tablespoons in a pint)" plus his ear drying gadget; I've read DAN articles that say vinegar is more important than alcohol - in the end the actual answers vary between divers maybe. And I have no idea what diving in pool in his part of the world is like; I've heard that their standards are some different than in the states.

Glad that Doctormike has time to watch us posting here. Thanks DM!

 

[Glycereine]

Actual swimmers ear drops (over the counter) are 75% rubbing alcohol (isopropyl) with some glycerin added. Not sure if the glycerin gives the same effect as the vinegar, but I've had success with simply using rubbing alcohol.

If I am having trouble with water stuck in the ears, I put the rubbing alcohol in a syringe and put some in each ear. It sinks past the water and then when you tip your head back upright, the alcohol sinks past the water again, but breaks the surface tension on the water and allows it to flow out as well.

I have talked to my doctor about this and he says no issues with doing this as long as it's not a regular thing. In other words if you always have water stuck in your ears or get ear infections and dive every day, it's probably not the solution for you.

Also to note, I have a "healthy" amount of wax in my ears (not excessive) and I've been told if you are lacking wax (as per the olive oil treatment) that the alcohol could cause issues as it will dry your ears out even more.

Best of luck, but I tend to agree that vasoline just seems like a bad idea.

 

[doctormike]

For Swimmers Ear prevention, I like 50-50 alcohol-vinegar; DocVikingo likes 33-33-33 alcohol-vinegar-water; Doctormike likes "alcohol/vinegar solution after diving (remember, mostly alcohol, with a little bit of vinegar - maybe 2 tablespoons in a pint)" plus his ear drying gadget; I've read DAN articles that say vinegar is more important than alcohol - in the end the actual answers vary between divers maybe. And I have no idea what diving in pool in his part of the world is like; I've heard that their standards are some different than in the states.

Glad that Doctormike has time to watch us posting here. Thanks DM!

Always glad to help! As far as the logic of the relative concentrations, here is my understanding of the physiology of the ear canal:

You want the drops to do two things. Dry the ear and drop the pH (make the environment more acidic). Vinegar is mostly water, while alcohol has less water in it (depending on the concentration, 70% isopropyl alcohol is 30% water). So, the more vinegar, the more water, and the longer it takes to dry out the ear. If you just put plain alcohol in the ear, it would dry out pretty quickly. In fact, overuse of this could "overdry" the ear and cause the other problem mentioned by tkdgodess.

Glycerine actually has the same effect as the baby oil, to keep the skin a little bit lubricated, which is good. You don't need much vinegar to drop the pH enough to keep pseudomonas (a common outer ear bacteria) from growing. Therefore, a smaller amount of vinegar will put less water into the ear while still reducing pseudomonas growth.

BUT, what works for you might be different than what works for me! We all have different bodies, and there isn't a lot of basic research on this stuff...

Mike