I´m not a medical professional. However, I once received some very useful advice from a nurse concerning ear infections: Apparently, orally administered antibiotics have trouble reaching the affected area as there is little blood flow there. Antibiotic ear drops are much more effective. My own experience seems to support this. Hope this helps!
OK, this is one of those confusing points that never seems to go away. Perhaps you misunderstood this nurse.
1) Oral antibiotics are extremely effective at treating
acute otitis media (AOM, or pus behind the eardrum), because of the excellent blood supply to the middle era.
2) Antibiotics eardrops are effective at treating
otitis externa (OE, or "swimmer's ear") once you have cleaned out the debris in the ear canal.
3) While AOM and OE are both "ear" things, they are completely different in every way, but in these discussions they always get lumped together. Sort of like how dandruff and migraines are both "head" problems, but they are treated differently.
islanddream:
Thanks so much, doctormike, for the valuable information. I will definitely read your article to help me understand the difference between middle and outer ear problems. Could a doctor (not ENT) be able to see clear fluid or blood behind the eardrum with the instrument she uses to look in my ears? Or is there a special instrument that the ENT uses to check for barotrauma?
Sure, any time!
And in many cases, an experienced non-ENT can certainly diagnose barotrauma. So if your GP had said "I see the ear canal is clear of debris, the eardrum is intact, and there is a serous (non-purulent) effusion with an air-fluid level in the middle ear cleft", I would be VERY confident that they examined the ear and had made an accurate diagnosis. This isn't just a question of jargon, it's a question of accuracy. But when I hear something like "the doctor told me that the ear was red, and there was water in the ear, and there was pus in the ear", then I'm just guessing (and I might be wrong) that they weren't sure what they were looking at and just gave you some antibiotics and steroids (which cover lots of things!). It also might be the case that your doctor did make an accurate diagnosis, but didn't communicate it fully to you so that something got lost in translation by the time you quoted him or her here...
As far as instruments, ENT doctors have a microscope and ear tools that let you safely and completely clean out the ear canal and examine the eardrum under high magnification with bright light. This is not always necessary for simple cases, but it does sometimes help.
---------- Post added April 25th, 2013 at 07:06 AM ----------
I can find DAN articles supporting the use of straight alcohol in ears after diving, others suggesting straight vinegar, and more recommending various mixes. I swam for decades with no problems but once I started scuba, that changed. I use equal parts 50% alcohol and white vinegar mixed in a applicator bottle after every dive & shower of a dive trip. It's virtually free and prevents "Swimmers Ear" infections well, altho yours may be more.
My recommended proportions are based on the fact that you want to keep water out of the ear as much as possible, which is why the solution should have more alcohol in it. Rubbing alcohol is 70% (or more) ethanol or isopropyl alcohol, so the alcohol component dries quickly leaving less water. The vinegar reduces the pH of the solution, which makes it harder for Peudomonas bacteria to grow, but you don't need a lot of vinegar for that (and since vinegar is mostly water, the less the better). Sometimes you add a little glycerine to prevent drying.
But other mixtures work as well..!
